The Guardian
by Hodgepodge11
Summary: A boy named Baron is transformed into a barred owl and sucked into the land of Hoole. There, he must face many trials in his journey to become one of the legendary Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Rated T for blood and violence.
1. The Owl

**A/N: This is my first story, so I apologize if it's not that good. I've been a member here for a grand total of 2 days! So any suggestions are welcome.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Guardians of Ga'hoole series. I do, on the other hand, claim Baron Marshal and Corey as my own!**

**The Owl**

The wind howled through the trees. The tent shook violently and made a constant whipping noise. I huddled next to a kerosine lantern, bundled up in my sleeping bag to fight the cold.

The storm had come out of no where. One moment the sky was clear and bright; The next, not so much. What had started out as an average backpacking trip quickly turned into a fight to keep dry. I had barely been able to pitch the tent as the wind was constantly trying to tear down my shelter. Once inside though, the light of the lantern seemed the most welcoming it had ever been.

My name is Baron Marshal. When my story began, I was seventeen years old, and loved the outdoors. Hunting, fishing, camping, you name it! Summer break was in full swing, and I was outside everyday. I lived on 100 acres of land in the Texas hill country, so it wasn't that hard. On hot days, I would sometimes sit on the dock in our tank and watch the Perch probe the surface of the water for bugs. Occasionally, I would admire my reflection in the surface of the water. I was about 6'2" and sported a beard that could only be defined as awesome. The blond hair stretched from one sideburn to the other, but not going around my mouth. It was kind of like those beards that you see on Amish guys, only trimmed close to my face. I was well muscled, but in a trim, fit kind of way. The only thing that seemed off was that I wasn't nearly as tan as one would think for someone who spent as much time outside as I did.

I always enjoyed a backpacking trip. Nothing beats the feeling of living out of your own pack. Just knowing that, should the situation arise, I could provide for myself was a very satisfying feeling. My parents never minded. They knew I was safe and didn't take any unnecessary risks. The trips were usually only two days or so. I picked a spot on our land and hiked there, pitched a tent, and spent the night. Then the next morning, I packed up and headed home.

But this trip, I was going to do something different. Me and my best friend Corey were planning a trip to Oklahoma to hike the Ouachita trail (Pronounced: Wash-i-tah). It was going to be a whole week, and we were ready.

Well, almost.

I got a phone call from Corey two days before we were set to leave. He had gotten Mono. I was about to ask him what date we should reschedule to, when he said that I should just go without him. I denied at first, but when he persisted, arguing that this was going to be the last week of good weather before a line of summer storms set in, I surrendered. I mean really, It was the Ozarks.

So two days later I was off. I checked the weather before I left. Clear skies to Wisconsin. It was going to be beautiful!

The first day went off without a hitch. I hiked twelve miles, then set up camp for the night. But I couldn't focus of the brilliance I was seeing all around me. I felt bad that Corey couldn't come. The next day wasn't much better. That night, I decided I would head back the next morning. At dawn, I loaded up my pack and began the hike home.

And that brings you to the part where I'm sitting in a tent, freezing my butt off, waiting for the storm to pass. Luckily, I was prepared. I had brought along the fourth book in the Guardians of Ga'hoole series. Yeah, I know it's a children's book, but hey, it's a good read. Plus, it's light. And every ounce counts when you carry everything you need on your back.

The book was enthralling. I witnessed great trials and tribulations as the group was sent on a secret mission into the dark confines of Saint Aegolius. I sat, enraptured, as they had to fight their way out of evil canyon after they were discovered, and how no matter how bravely they fought, they did not escape without injury. The Realization that Soren was dying from his wound hit me like a fist in the gut.

So fascinated was I that at first I didn't hear the rustle of wings in front of my tent. Finally, a sharp screech pulled me from my mesmerized state. I was resistant at first, not wanting to let any more moisture into the tent than there already was. But finally curiosity got the best of me. I slowly unzipped the tent flap and peered out into the darkness. What confronted me was the saddest sight I had ever seen. A rather wet, rather unhappy looking, Barred owl sat outside my tent staring in. The bird looked up at me and then walked unassertively into my tent.

_That's strange_, I thought, _I don't think I've ever heard of that happening before._

He walked to the middle of my tent, turned around and just sat there, staring at me. His gaze was piercing. I don't know exactly how I knew it was a he, I'm not what you would call an expert in owl anatomy, but I just knew. We sat like that for a while, just looking at each other. When I made an attempt to move closer to him, he stayed still as before. So I moved a bit closer.

When I was within arms reach of him, however, he did move. I didn't see it until it was too late. The owl gave a violent flap of his wings and with his razor sharp talons, slashed two gashes in my face, both starting at my right ear and ending at my chin. I fell back from him, holding my hands to my face. Already, blood began staining the front of my shirt. When I finally found something to stop the bleeding, I looked back to the owl, who was still sitting there, staring at me.

"Get out of here, you little turd!" I shouted at the owl. But he just continued staring at me, his yellow eyes seeming to glare into my soul.

I made a lunge for him, but a sudden and intense heat engulfed my entire body, and I ended up on the ground, moaning. I looked up at the owl and saw that he was still staring at me as my world slowly faded into darkness.

I woke up to a sound like roaring waves mixed with the occasional high pitched squealing sound. My whole body felt horribly sunburned. Every time I moved, I felt like I was going to get sick.

I tried to pick myself up, but my arms refused to cooperate. They felt like they had gained twenty pounds. My legs felt strange, too. I could at least feel them, but I could't bend my knees.

What happened? I thought to myself. And what is that noise?

It took me a minute to place it. The roaring sound was coming from all around me. It didn't sound like waves, as I had originally thought, but the sound of a fire.

Fire!

I suddenly lifted my head and began looking around frantically. I was in the middle of a huge forest fire! Flames were everywhere. Burning limbs were crashing all around me. I tried to get up and run, but my arms gave out beneath me.

I looked down at my hands, only to find that I didn't have any hands.

I had wings.

Panic overtook me. I had no idea where I was or how I got there.

Suddenly, I heard another high pitch screech. of course that's what it was, the squealing noise was a bird call. In particularly, an owl. I craned my neck back farther than I was ever able to before and saw a Boreal owl descending towards me at a rapid rate.

No sooner did he land than he started yelling to me over the roar of the flame.

"Can you fly?" he asked

"No. Where am I? Wh-wait, did you just talk?"

But he wasn't paying attention.

"Ezyl, we've got a live one." Then he looked back at me, "We're gonna get you out of here!"

"Wh-what happened. Where am I? Did you just say Ezyl?"

"I'll answer all your questions later. just suffice to say that your in the middle of one of the worst fires that the kingdom of Silverveil has ever seen.

Just then, a battle-scarred Horned owl appeared out of the smoke

"Poot, what's the situation"

I couldn't believe my eyes. "Ezylryb? Are you really Ezylryb?"

"Yes. and you are the bird that is in big trouble. Poot, get the gurney."

"Yes sir." he said, and was off. He returned a few moments later with the gurney. They rolled me on, much to my discomfort, as their sharp feet were like burning knives on my still sensitive skin.

Then they grabbed both handles with their talons and flew me away. I fought to stay conscious, but the shock of those past few minutes finally caught up with me. I watched the world sail by as I slowly succumbed to the welcoming darkness.

**Alrighty then. You know what to do, read and review (Wow that rhymed so well it sounded gay)**.


	2. Neera

**A/N: Alrighty, then. It's time for chapter two! It's been a grand total of 39 hours since the first chapter was posted. 39 hours, and 2 reviews...**

**Please! I'm begging you! Review! I can't tell if my story sucks or not without you. Your feedback is encouraged and appreciated!**

**(Eh-hm) Sorry about that. First off, I would like to thank Toa of Thunder for helping me out with my first fanfic. Your feedback on my story has been greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)**

**Now to the story. If your hoping this chapter will clear up some fuzziness as to exactly when Baron has been droped into the book, keep waiting. I'm sorry, but I have to introduce the other main character of my book, Neera. Which leads me to my...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Guardians of Ga'hoole series or any of it's characters. I do, however, own Baron and Neera.**

**Chapter 2**

**Neera**

I awoke with a start. I was laying on a soft bed in a room made out of wood. _Had it all been a dream?_ I wondered.

I went to rub my eyes, but once again, a pair of wings had taken the place of my hands. I took a closer look at my surroundings and noticed that the room wasn't **made** of wood, as I had originally thought, but was **carved** out of wood. I tried to remember what happened. I was backpacking, and then there was a storm, and the owl...

The owl!

That's who did this. I looked down at my new body and realized that I bore a shocking resemblance to the Barred owl that made me this way. I was mostly grey, with dark stripes running horizontally on my chest and vertically on my stomach. My wings were spotted with flecks of white as well as my tail...

I had a tail.

I tried to rudder it back and forth, but it was harder than it seemed. Finally, after a few minutes of senselessly waggling my rear end about, I found the correct set of muscles to make my tail move. So proud was I with my little victory, that I began moving my new appendage in all different directions.

I was so busy shaking my tail feathers, that I didn't notice a new presence had entered the room.

"Having fun, are we?" a distinctly feminine voice asked.

I froze. A young, female snowy owl stood in the doorway of my room. She tried to suppress a giggle, and she did a pretty good job, too, given the circumstances. I must have looked absolutely ridiculous laying there with my rear end sticking up in the air, a deer in the headlights look on my face.

"I, um, uh..." I spluttered.

It appeared that she wasn't going to be able to hold back the flow of laughter much longer. But she regained her composure with a speed that only came from years of practice.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to make you feel awkward."

But I wasn't focusing on what she was saying. Apparently, with my new body, the definition of attractive had changed. Under the new definition, it said 'See her'. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

A moment later, I shook my head. _What am I thinking!_ _I'm a human, not a bird! _I tried to find a tactful way out of the situation. Finally, something came to my mind and I blurted it out.

"I was just, uh, fanning myself."

Ok, maybe not so tactful.

"Oh?" she said with a touch of sarcasm, "I would have never guessed. Well anyway, My name is Neera. I am a nurse here at the great tree, and I will be..."

"Did you just say the Great Tree? I'm really in the Great Tree of Ga'hoole?" I asked incredulously.

"Why yes, and as long as you'll be staying here..."

"And Lyze of Kiel, he saved me?" The excitement was obvious in my voice.

"Lyze of Kiel is dead," she said, "Don't you know your basic history?"

_What is she talking about?_ I thought. "But, he rescued me out of that forest fire."

Suddenly understanding dawned over Neera's face. "Oh, you mean Ezylryb! True, some people say that he bears a remarkable resemblance to the Lyze of old. He probably seemed exceedingly so to you. What, with the state you were in when they found you. We've been working on you nonstop for the past five days. When they brought you in, you were covered from head to tail in burns, bless your gizzard. You really weren't that bad off at first. At least, not until the burns got infected. We had to pack you in ice to keep the fever down. Luckily, we've just had a big snow, so our reserves were full.

This statement hit me in the gut. I had almost died? My life had just began, it seemed, and just as quickly it had almost ended. The shock, apparently, was evident on my face, because Neera walked over and placed her wing around me.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine." I pulled away slightly from her touch, as my skin was still sensitive.

A look of concern came over her face at this. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you pain. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

"No, thank you. I just need time to think."

"Alright, just call if you need me. By the way, what is your name?"

"Baron." I told her.

"Baron," she repeated, as if tasting the word. "Well then, It's nice to meet you Baron."

With that, she turned and walked towards the doorway. Then, as though the thought had just crossed her mind, she turned back around to face me.

"By the way, Ezylryb will be coming to question you in a bit." Then she turned and walked out of the room, leaving me with only my thoughts.

**What? Ezylryb wants to question Baron? What did Baron ever do to Ezyl? Oh, well. Guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter ;) On your mark, get set, review!**


	3. The Great Downing

**A/N: It is now time for chapter three of The Guardian. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything recently, but school has been taking up a lot of time as of late.**

**I would like to thank Toa of Thunder for continuing to be my unofficial/official beta reader, and I would also like to thank Shy Whispers of Life for helping me with the romance portion of my story. I am eternally in ya'lls debt.**

**Also, I currently have two people reviewing out of 124 hits. Please review. It's not that hard, just hit that little button down there and type either 'it's great' or 'it sucks'. That's all there is to it. Trust me, it's not that hard.**

**Well that's all I have to say. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Guardians of Ga'Hoole_ series.**

**Chapter 3**

**The Great Downing**

"Alrighty, then," said Ezylryb, "let's get started, shall we?"

When he had come into the room, he was as lean and mean as I had pictured him. Battle scared face, missing talon, ruffled feathers, check, check, and check. He was exactly as I had pictured him, although I was beginning to wish that he wasn't.

"So, my first question is, why didn't you have enough sense in your thick skull to evacuate when every other animal in the forest of Silverveil did?"

I assumed that telling him I was really a human from a place called Texas, and that I got here because a rain-soaked owl marched into my tent and slashed my face open wasn't going to sit well with the head of the Weather and Colliering chaw. So, I made something up.

"I was on my way out of the forest when a burning limb hit me." There, that sounded pretty good.

"That makes sense," said Ezyl, "except we told everyone on that side of the forest to evacuate at least an hour before it hit."

"I was asleep." I lied again.

"At midnight?"

Poop-sauce. I should have thought of that.

"Why are you questioning me?" I asked.

"Well, for one, you can't seem to keep your story straight, and two, we happened to have chased a hostile barred owl from that cursed 'Saint' Aggies into that very fire. So why do **you** think I'm asking these questions?"

I was pooped.

"You have to trust me, Lyze, I'm not from Saint Aggies." As soon as I said that, Ezylryb seemed to tighten up.

"How do you know that name?" he asked me.

Scratch that. Now I was pooped.

"I can't tell you," I said.

"Oh, can't you now?"

"No. I can't say why, but you have to trust me."

"Seems an awful lot of trust to place in a slipgizzle."

I wasn't getting anywhere with this. I had to prove somehow that I wasn't a spy.

"I'm not a slipgizzle for Saint Aggies, but I did escape from there," I lied. "I have some knowledge of their plans."

After the words left my beak, I realized that I had no idea at what point in the series I had been dropped. If I was anywhere past _The Siege_, I would have no clue what was going to happen next.

"Really, is that so? Well then, let's hear some of this so called..." but he was cut off by a breathless owl who came half running, half flying into the room.

"Ezylryb, we have a situation. A large number of chicks have been knocked out of their nests."

"So," Ezylryb responded, "Get the search and rescue chaw to put them back."

"That's the problem, sir. There are no hollows to be found."

As soon as he said that, I figured out what part of the series I was dropped in. "The Great Downing," I whispered.

"What was that?" Ezyl asked, snapping his head back towards me, "Ahh. So that's what you and your St. Aggies cronies were doing. It must have been one of your raids, wasn't it? Why did you leave them? Did the little babies put up to much of a fight?"

"It wasn't St. Aggies, It was the Pure Ones." I answered, "The Pure Ones were moving the young'uns when St. Aggies decided to attack them and take the chicks."

"What are you talking about? Who are 'the Pure Ones'?" Ezyl asked.

"They're a group of Tytos led by Metal Beak. They're the ones who killed the slipgizzle in Silverveil." I answered.

"How did you know about the slip... never mind. I have to go. Maybe you're telling the truth, maybe you aren't. Either way, you're not leaving this tree until I get back. I've ordered Neera to watch over you until I return."

For some reason, the statement 'when I get back' set off alarm bells in my head. "But what if you don't get back?" I asked.

"Well, that won't happen. Problem solved." Then he turned and flew out of the hollow. I stared after him, a feeling of dread building in my gizzard. _Hmm,_ I thought, _so that's what a gizzardly feeling was like_. It felt the same as if it were in my gut, only slightly higher.

As soon as he left, Neera entered the room.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Hmm, let's see. I woke up in a forest fire, barely escaped with my life, woke up five days later, found out that I had almost died, met one of my heroes, who thinks I'm a spy, and now I find out I'm not getting out of here until he gets back, which, I have a feeling, isn't going to happen for a while. How do you think it went?

She smiled at this. The comedy of my predicament was obviously not lost on her. "Hey, don't forget, I'm the one who has to babysit the evil spy."

I laughed at that. I guess it was a release for all the built up stress from the past few hours. Neera even joined in, and the both of us laughed so hard that any owls who passed by must have thought we were clinically insane. As soon as the last fits of giggling subsided, I asked her the question that had been on my mind since I had woken up.

"Neera, Ezylryb said I couldn't leave the tree, correct?"

"Yes."

"So, does that mean I can leave this room?"

"Only if I'm with you." she answered. My heart jumped into my throat at this. I was finally going to see the great tree of the Guardians!

"I was wondering, would you show me around? I want to test my legs to see if they still work."

"Of course!" she answered enthusiastically, "but first let's see if you can walk."

I tried to roll over, but with wings, it felt nearly impossible. In ten seconds, all I had accomplished was to send Neera into another fit of laughter.

"Try folding in your wings!" she suggested, still giggling.

I tried that, and it worked brilliantly. In no time at all, I was flipped over and ready to stand. Unfortunately, I ran into another problem. My knees bent backwards. I hadn't noticed it at first, but it felt awkward now that I was focusing on it. My new legs used a whole different set of muscles, which also added to the problem, and it took a few minutes for me to get up on my feet. Once I was up, though, It didn't take long for me to figure out walking.

A grand total of fifteen minutes later, Neera and I were walking down one of the many curving passages inside the trunk of the great tree. I was doing a kind of awkward hopping waddle, since whenever I bent my knees, it felt like I was hyperextending them. Neera, who of course was much more skilled at this than I was, walked with a certain charm that was hard to ignore. Try as I may, I couldn't seem to stop myself from looking at her, or thinking in a more romantic way. But that was crazy, she was a bird and I was a human, even if my body disagreed.

"So, where did you live before you came here?" Neera asked suddenly, snapping me out of my testosterone induced stupor.

"Oh, um," _This is a problem_, I thought, _Which of the kingdom did barred owls live in? _I came up with the best excuse I could think of. "I'm an orphan, actually. I've lived in many places. It wasn't until a few months ago that I was taken."

"Were you captured by one one of St. Aggies patrols?" Neera asked

"Yes, and then they took me to that accursed canyon." I spat with as much vehemence as I could muster.

"Oh dear, is it as bad as they say it is?"

"It was pretty bad," I racked my brain for an answer, "It was a lot of hard work."

"How did you escape moon blinking?" She asked.

I said the first thing that came to my head. "I just thought of the stories about the guardians that my dad told me as a kid." If it worked for Soren, then why shouldn't it work for me?

"I see. How did you escape?"

Something came over me, and words started pouring out of my mouth. "I earned enough trust to go on a hunting expedition. When nobody was looking, I took off. That was when your friends found me and chased me into that fire. Then the smoke got thick and I started choking. I went yeep and crashed."

_Where did that come from?_ I thought.

"Oh." she said, then silence ruled again. After a few minutes of quiet walking though, I could no longer stand it.

"So how did you get to the Great tree?" I asked.

"Actually, I was born here. My dad was an orphan like you, and my mother came here when her family's hollow was burnt down in a forest fire."

"How did they meet?"

"My father said it was love at first sight, but my mother said she only talked to him because they were in the same chaw." I smiled at this statement, as it sounded kind of like my parents. As soon as I thought that, though, I wished that I hadn't, as It churned up painful memories of my previous life.

_What are my parents thinking? _I wondered. _I should have been home three days ago._ _Are they looking for me right now? Will they find my body? Is there a body in my tent, or is it empty?_

Suddenly, another's voice boomed in my skull.

"**Worry not. You are home, and all is well. Your parents are fine, and they are relieved to have you back in their arms." **

Then it was gone. One moment I felt a connection, the next, it was like it had never existed. What was that voice? What did they mean I was home? And what was that talk about me being back in my parents arms?

Neera's voice pulled me back into the present. "Are you okay?" she asked, clearly worried..

"Yeah. I just got dizzy."

"Hmm." she sounded concerned, "Tell me if that gets worse."

She started to walk in the direction that we were originally heading. Then a Sooty owl flew up and started babbling about a bunch of injured chicks and Tyto purity.

"Slow down, Hitenese, What's wrong?" Neera asked, a touch of worry entering her voice.

"The search and rescue chaw found a bunch of chicks somewhere east of here, and they're flying them all to the tree. At first we thought we could handle all of them, but there's just so many different injuries, and they keep going on about Tyto purity, and I don't know what to do!" by the end of her story she was wailing, the tears sliding down her beak and on to the floor.

"I need you to focus, Hite. Who is talking about Tyto purity?" but the Sooty was so far past the realm of intelligent thought that she was reduced to a pile of blubbering feathers.

Suddenly, a memory sparked in my mind, and I blurted out, "The chicks!"

"What?" Neera asked still confused and a little disgruntled by all that was going on.

"No time to explain. Just take me to wherever you handle the sick." Neera needed no other convincing, and a moment later, we were off.

I had only been here a few hours, and I was already about to witness an event that would change Soren's life forever.

With any luck, I wouldn't mess it up!

**Alright, now that you've read it, review! The button is right here.**

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	4. Eglantine

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. I do own Baron and Neera.**

**A/N: Well, here it is! chapter 4 part 1. I know that part one is long enough to stand on it's own, but part 2 isn't, so bear with me. It makes sense. Kind of.**

**Anyway, my beta tells me that I should explain some of my verb usage in the last chapter. Specifically the word Poop. She said it seemed immature of Baron to use that word so often. Well, I go this youth group, you see? And in this youth group there is a certain youth named Britain. Now this youth is the most popular youth in the entire youth group, but not for his looks or athletic ability, but for his comedy. Now, a few years ago Britain made the word Poop one of the key words in his vocabulary, and, being one of the most popular kids in our youth group, made it a very popular word. Even Baron, off of whom I'm basing my character, uses it. Baron is by no means a juvenile person, but it's still a word he uses. Therefor, I have used, and will probobly continue to use the word poop in this story. Just please don't think less of him if he does. He's at the mercy of me.**

**Well that became a little more long-winded than I had planned. So without further ado...**

**Chapter 4**

**Eglantine**

The sight that beheld my eyes as we walked into the Infirmary was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Kathryn Laskey had mentioned that there were many chicks, but this was more that I could fathom. The sound that reverberated around the room was not that of moaning, as would be expected in a disaster of this size, but a chorus of praise for the supremacy of Tytos.

Hundreds of young owls were spread across the sanatorium. Many of them had sustained a variety of injuries. One masked owl's wing went out from her arm like normal, but halfway up bent sharply to the left, then a little further it bent back to the right. Another little one, a barn owl, appeared to struggle for every breath he took, then coughed up blood whenever he exhaled.

I watched helplessly as a small sooty owl drew his last, rasping breath. As whatever life he had held onto for so long passed from his glassy eyes, which were now starring, unseeing, at the roof of the infirmary.

It made me sick.

I couldn't believe that anybody would have the audacity to make helpless chicks into these mindless beings that couldn't even process the idea of pain. Fury rose up in me, and I vowed that I would fight beside the Guardians to end this evil.

That was, of course, if I ever got the chance.

I still wasn't allowed to leave the tree until Ezylryb got back, which now, I was sure wasn't going to happen for a few weeks at least. If only there was some way to get him back sooner.

"Baron!" Neera called, "I could use a little help over here!" She was standing over a grass owl with a broken wing who was thrashing violently. "Hold him down!" she shouted.

I did as she asked, and held his small body down with my wings. A few moments later Neera had the broken bone set and splinted and was ready to move on to the next patient.

We did that for the next few minutes, going from chick to chick, helping those that we could, and making those that we couldn't more comfortable. Neera was a natural. When there wasn't a chick she could deal with on her own, she found another nurse or snake who needed assistance. But regardless of how many young ones she helped, there always seemed to be three more just arriving. Some only had a few cuts and bruises, whilst others had more serious injuries. The latter were helped first.

About thirty minutes into this process, I saw something that caught my eye. It was a female barn owl that was laying on one of the tables waiting to be looked at. Something about her struck me as familiar. As if I had met her before. Or had here described to me before.

Then it hit me.

"Eglantine!" I shouted, much to Neera's surprise and displeasure, as she was just in the middle of placing a worm on a Sooty's cut leg.

"What?" she asked, the frustration obvious in her voice.

"That owlet over there, that's Soren's sister!" I exclaimed.

"And? Who's Soren?" she asked, not understanding why I found him so important.

"You don't know Soren?" I asked incredulously.

"No. I have to deal with this patient."

"Alright. But we need to help her next."

After Neera finished placing the worm, we went over to Eglantines table. _That's strange, I thought she got her own personal room_.

"Alrighty, let's have a look-sey." Neera said comfortingly. The act was lost on the young female, though, as she was attempting to praise the Tyto family. But all that came out was a shockingly large amount of blood.

"Oh dear!" Neera gasped, "Her lung has been punctured!"

"What!" I asked, not believing what she had just said, "But, she can't die!"

"A lung puncture isn't always deadly, as a young owl such as herself can learn to use just one. But the fluids in the injured lung must be drained immediately. We have to get here to a private room. Where are those S&R's when you need them!"

"S&R's?" I asked.

"Search and Rescue chaw members." she answered flatly, continuing to search the crowds.

A voice behind me caught my attention. "Hurry up, Twi! We've got to get back out there." the first voice said.

Then a second, much deeper voice replied, "I'm coming, Digger, give me a second."

_Twi? Digger? It couldn't be. _I turned around to find a Great Grey and a burrowing owl placing a stretcher down on the table behind me.

"Twilight! Digger!" I shouted. They turned around quickly to look at me.

"Do I know you?" Digger asked.

Hmm, I forgot. They didn't know me.

"No," I responded, "but we need your help. This chick needs to be moved right now or she'll die! It's Soren's sister!"

With that, they jumped into action, thankfully not asking how I had acquired so much information about them and the rest of the band. A few minutes later, we had Eglentine situated in her own private chambers, waiting to be worked on by Octavia, the only creature in the tree with enough knowledge in surgery to apply a chest tube. Neera explained to me that a chest tube was a piece of reed that was cut into a spike on one side. It would then be inserted into the injured lung through the chest, and would act as a straw to drain the built up fluid.

After she was sure eglantine was stable, Neera left the room to go help more chicks. She instructed me to stay there and watch over Eglantine and to tell her if she got worse.

As soon as she left, a female Pygmy owl flew in the room and started screeching at Twilight and Digger, "What do you two think you're doing? There are still a ton of chicks that need to be moved!"

"Just a minute, Primrose, this is Soren's sister."

"Ohh!" she gasped, her attitude now completely flipped. "Where is he? He must be devastated!"

"We don't know." Digger replied.

"Well, why don't you go find him!"

"Well," Twilight replied sarcastically, "it's a big tree. If you have any suggestions as to where we should begin our search, then please, by all means, speak now."

"He's digging worms." I answered. They all looked at me questioningly.

"And how do you know that?" Primrose asked.

"It doesn't matter how, you just need to find him now." I responded, hoping that would sate their curiosity.

"Just answer the question" Twilight responded.

It didn't.

"I saw him earlier helping the Ga'Hoolology chaw."

This time, Digger was the one to speak "And how do you know Soren? I've never seen you before."

"Uhh," suddenly the voice took over again, "we were in the same pit at Saint Aegolius"

As soon as I said that, they all inhaled sharply. "You escaped from there, too?" asked Primrose incredulously.

"Yes." I answered, "but you need to tell Soren about Eglanrtine. He needs to know what happened to her."

Digger piped up "Yes, we need to find him. He'll want to see his sister."

With that, the three of them flew off to find Soren. As much as I wanted to meet him, I decided that I would be a distraction more than anything else. So I went in search of Neera, whom I found tending to a small masked owl with a gash on his wing.

"Need some help?" I asked.

"I thought I told you to watch over that Barn owl of yours." she scolded.

"She's in good company now." I reassured her.

"Well then yes, I could use your help. Would you mind fetching me a worm? I'm afraid one won't be enough for this young'ne."

"Will do!" I replied. Then I walked off to the place where the worms were being deposited. On the way, I saw a nest maid snake with particularly pinkish scales. she was placing worms on a grass owl, and didn't hear me come up.

"Mrs. P?" I asked.

I gasped as she turned to face me. I knew she was blind, but I had forgotten that she had no eyes. I guess watching the movie will do that to you!

"Yes, Dearie? How can I help you?"

"Oh, umm, uh, yeah." I shook my head to clear it, "Sorry. Do you know Soren?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Why, yes! I was his nest maid when he was just a little chick. Oh, how he's grown! Such a fine young owl he is now!"

"Well, I believe his sister was one of the downed chicks." I told her.

"What? Where is she?"

"Up stairs, in one of the hollows." I responded.

"Which hollow?" she asked.

"Mrs. P!" a voice cried out from one of the rooms down the hall from us.

"That hollow." I replied.

She slithered off without a second glance, and I resumed my search for a worm.

**Alright, I'm going to be posting part two in sometime tomorrow probably. Please, though, don't feel like you can't review. By all means, go right ahead! And so we go.**


	5. Eglanting part 2

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to post this chapter. I've actually had it written for the past two weeks, but due to christmas and my affinity for procrastination, I just finished editing.**

**Also, I've been getting a lot of reviews expressing concern for my mention of God in one of my previous chapters (even though I edited that out about a month ago). No, this is not going to be a christian story, but yes, it's going to have some christian themes and will mention God occasionally. I'm not going to be shoving my religion down ya'lls throats, but I'm still a christian and so is Baron. If you find this offensive, then you might not want to continue reading. But without further ado...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Guardians of Ga'Hoole book series by Kathryn Laskey. I do, however own Baron, Neera, and, since Christmas, I finally own all fifteen books in the series!**

**Chapter four**

**Eglentine (part 2)**

It had been two weeks since the Great Downing. Already, the owls of Ga'Hoole had recovered from the disastrous event, and the tree was buzzing with excitement. When I asked Neera what all the commotion was about, she told me that Trader Mags was coming.

The next day, Neera and I went down to see all of the magpie's wares. I could only look, as I didn't have anything to trade.

Technically, I was supposed to stay with Neera at all times, but she let me wander off. She trusted me.

She was one of the few who did.

I walked from stall to stall, looking at all the objects for trade. One thing in particular caught my eye. It was a rod made out of some sort of metal that had a razor-sharp blade on both ends. It was small enough to be held in a single talon and appeared light enough that you could carry more than one. Beside it was a small blue stone depicting two owls clasping talons, heads touching, and wings outstretched behind them. I didn't know why these two objects stood out to me, but I felt like I had seen them before.

"Ahh! I see you have good taste in jewelry." stated a magpie who was standing near the Items.

"What?" I hadn't noticed that he was there until he spoke, "Oh yeah, the stone. It's very beautiful."

"Ahh, yes. We found it in the Beaks. Notice its superior craftsmanship, the attention to detail and this." he lifted the stone into the air by a golden chain that was attached to it, "You can wear it around your neck and take it anywhere. So, what would you be willing to trade for it?" he asked.

"I don't have anything to trade." I told him, "I'm just looking."

As soon as the words left my beak, his fluffed up his feathers to make himself seem considerably larger. "Well then, if you would kindly make room for the customers who aren't wasting my time." he growled.

"Alright, alright. I'm leaving." I turned around and looked for another stand that had something interesting in it.

Instead, I found Eglantine.

She was standing behind another Barn Owl who I took to be Soren. _Oh!_ I thought, _I almost forgot! This is when Eg looks into that stone right as the harp plays!_ But something was wrong. She wasn't anywhere near the stone. I saw it glistening in the light of the torches, but she was still just standing behind Soren._ How is she supposed to get better if she won't look at the frinken rock? Did I just say frinken?_

I had to do something. Trying not to draw to much attention to myself, I walked up to the young female and placed my wing around her. Soren was so distracted by the many items up for trade that he didn't notice. I gently guided her over to the stone and placed her in front of it.

As I walked away, I realized something. Twice now the whole Guardians of Ga'Hoole series would have gone completely different had I not been there. Back in the hospital, Eglantine might have died had I not pointed her out. Just a moment ago, my placing her in front of the stone insured that she would fully recover from fleckasia. The thought was frightening. _What if I mess up? What if I change an event on accident? What would that do to the story? _But I didn't have time to think like that.

Just then, Neera came out of the crowd. She was wearing a small piece of red cloth tied loosely around her neck and hanging behind her head. I caught my breath when I saw her. While the cloth wasn't exactly attractive by itself, it somehow added to her natural beauty in a way that made her almost irresistible. In her talon she held a small package.

"Wow!" I whispered. That was all I could say. That was the only word I could think of.

"Do you like it?" she asked, turning so I could see it better.

"Uhh, yeah!" I stuttered, "It looks amazing!"

She smiled slightly, turning slowly in place, adding a little tail flip with every step. _Is she doing that on purpose?_ I wondered. _Wow! She's so beautiful!_

_There I go again! I have to snap out of this!_

I tried to change the subject "What's that?" I asked, just noticing the little package she was holding in her talon.

"Nothing." she responded in a playful tone.

"No really, what is it?" I asked, my curiosity now piqued.

"I'm not going to tell you!" she countered.

"Come on, please?"

We went on like that the whole way back to the hollow. As we walked in, I felt a stirring in what had to be my gizzard, which turned into more of an upset stomach feeling. _What's happening to me?_ I wondered. As I was thinking that, my gizzard gave a lurch, and I felt a semi-solid lump making it's way up my throat. I started coughing, trying to get whatever it was up and out of my system. Finally, I hacked up a smallish ball of fur and bones. _Is that a Pellet?_ I thought to myself, _Oh yeah! I did have my first fur and bones today, didn't I? _

"Ahh, a very nice pellet! I'll have a nest maid snake take that down to the Ga'hoolology chaw after breaklight." Just then, I heard the first of the beautiful chords emanating from Madame Plonk's hollow.

But I wasn't listening. _How am I going to survive?_ I wondered, _That was horrible! I'd imagined yarping pellets wasn't fun, but this is unthinkable! I don't want to have to throw up after every meal!_

Thinking back, it really wasn't that bad, but the whole pellet idea was disturbing at the time. I thought that was the worse thing about being an owl.

I still think it is.

But I also thought that was the worse thing that could have happened to me. In that respect, I was badly mistaken. Worse things were to happen to me before the end of my quest.

I still had much to do, much to accomplish. The journeys that were ahead of me were arduous at best, and nigh on impossible at worst. And one of my greatest tests was approaching rapidly. I still had to accomplish one thing in order to consider myself an owl.

I had to learn how to fly.

**A/N: Alright. kind of a last page of book ending, but it was literally the best one I could come up with. So, please don't mention that in the review I know you're going to do after you finish reading this!**

**I'm on a ski trip at the moment (homeschooling rocks!) so I'll probably have the next chapter this coming week sometime.**


	6. The Glaucana

**A/N: Alrighty then. First off, I would like to say that, although my story is lacking in, how should I put this, aggressive negotiations? at the moment, that will change in probably two chapters if not the next one. You didn't think Baron was going to get off so easy, did you?**

**Second, I would like to say to all of you encouraging me to make my chapters longer that I have. This chapter is about 5000 words and I plan on making the rest of them longer than that.**

**Thirdly, I just wanted to let everybody know that I finally found out how to make these...**

**

* * *

...line things! Horray!**

**Finally, I want to thank Shy_Whispers_of_Life for continuing to be my beta. I couldn't do it without her (and I'm not kidding. I can't find a grammatical error in anything I write to save my life, so she is greatly appreciated)!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Laskey. Baron, Neera, Skrythen'r, and Boral, on the other hand, are my own creations.**

**

* * *

Ok, so it's been like thirty minutes since I posted this chapter and I've already gotten a PM saying that my mind is sick. Therefor, I suppose I should warn everybody that there is a brief mention of rape in this chapter (nothing bad. One of the characters mentions that it happened, followed shortly by another character making a remark about it.) Do not freak out when you come to this portion, however small it might be. This is the only mention of it in my entire story and it's part of the set up for everything to come. Please don't stop reading when you come to this part. Remember, my story's rated T, not M. I wouldn't do anything to dishonor that.**

**Chapter 5**

**The Glaucana**

"You need to flap harder!" Neera yelled for about the thousandth time that day. "You're acting like you've never done this before!"

_That's because I haven't_, I wanted to yell back. Instead, I decided that silence would be the best answer. We had been practicing, sorry, 'relearning' flying for the past hour, although it felt like it had been days.

I had assumed when I heard that I was to relearn how to fly that I would be started off with branching, like they taught baby owls. So I was surprised when Neera used an approach much like the one Grimble used to teach Soren and Gylfie. "This way," Neera had told me, "It will allow you to take off from anywhere, even in the close confines of the tree."

Learning it involved me starting off on the ground, where I would then flap my wings as hard and as fast as I possibly could until I fell back to the earth and landed on my... tail-feathers.

"Don't spread your Primaries so far. It disperses the wind instead of gathering it under your wings." Neera instructed me.

"Can we take a break?" I asked.

"Sure. But only for a few minutes."

We both perched on the branch. I felt as if I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. _Who knew that flying could be so hard? _I wondered. Just then, another Barred owl flew up to us.

"I have a message from the high monarchs of the tree, Boron and Barran, for the matron Neera and the prison...

"Ok! We get it!" Neera cut in, "Enough with the formalities. What's the message?"

The owl seemed to deflate a little. "Our great and noble monarchs..."

"Get on with it!" Neera shouted.

"Sorry. Ezylryb has been declared missing."

"What?" Neera shouted.

"That's it? I already knew that." I said.

They both looked at me with questioning looks on their faces.

"I mean, really. He's been gone for the past two weeks, and the search and rescue chaw has been deployed how many times during that period?"

"Well, um, yes. This is true." stated the Barred owl.

Neera looked down at her talons in thought. "You said something about that back when you were rescued. I thought you were joking. How did you know?"

I had to think of something. _What is it that Soren has?_

"I'm not sure." I answered, "I just dreamt it."

"Ahh, I see. You have Star-sight."

"I suppose so." I answered.

"Ahem," The other owl cleared his throat to get our attention, "That's not all. King Boron would also like both of you to come to the Parliament Hollow."

"When?" I asked.

"Immediately."

"Do you know why we've brought you here?" asked Boron. I was standing in the middle of a great many owls of different ages and species. I recognized some; an elderly burrowing owl who I took to be Dewlap, an ash-covered great horned owl who could only have been Bubo; and of course the two Snowies at the front of the room. This time, however, I didn't blurt out each members name as I identified them. That, I had learned, was a bad idea.

"No sir." I answered, "But I suppose it has something to do with me being a spy and probably my punishment."

At that, Boron gave a burst of raucous laughter. A moment later, his mate joined in the cheerful display. "Is that why you seemed so worried?" asked Boron, "Quite the opposite, actually. We've brought you here to thank you."

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. You and your guardian. For exceptional performance in the face of disaster. Matron Neera. If you would please step forward."

Neera took a tentative step forward, a look of confusion on her face. "But, what did I do?"

"Why, you helped save the lives of many young owlets. That's what you did! News of how you remained calm and collected when everyone else was in a sheer panic has only now reached us. We thank you for this great service that you have done for the tree." With that, he placed a string of milkberries around her neck. She bowed to the Snowy and slowly backed away, a jumble of emotions on her face.

"As for you, Baron." I took my cue and stepped forward, "Because of your willingness to help when you could have run, we have come to the conclusion that you are not a spy for the owls of St. Aegolius. As such, we have decided to grant you your freedom."

My beak dropped open, "What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was free to do what I wanted? I could be whoever I wanted to be?

Boron laughed "Yes, you heard me right. You're free. You may go on your way. Or, if you so desire, you are welcome to stay here."

_Hmm_, I thought. _Do I want to go out into the wild and fend for myself, or stay here where I can have a hollow and two square meals a day, all while learning a new trade. This is a _real_ hard choice._

"If it is okay with your majesty, I would like to stay here." I answered.

"By all means! Of course you can stay!"

"Thank you sir, and ma'am." I said, looking both at Boron and Barran, "I am eternally in ya'lls debt."

"Ya'lls? What is that word?" Barran asked.

_Poop sauce! I never thought southern slang would be my undoing._

"Um, it's a contraction I picked up in Kuneer. It means 'you all'. It's not proper grammar, your majesty. I apologize for using it in your presence."

"No need to apologize." Said Barran, "I, actually, kind of like the sound of it... Ya'll. Yes, I do believe I'll start using that word."

"But..." I started to say, then held my tongue. Who was I to tell the head matriarch of the tree what she could and couldn't say. "Yes ma'am. It's quite fun to use."

"All right, ya'll," Barran paused on the word, "you can be on ya'lls, way. Oh, this is so much fun!"

_What have I done?_ I thought.

As we walked down one of the narrow passageways that lined the tree, I looked over at Neera. What I saw took me by surprise. Instead of beaming, as I expected her to be, she was practically fuming, as if what had just conspired had only succeeded in annoying her to no end.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Nothing." She spat. Then she ripped the vine of Milk-berries off her neck and threw it out a window.

"It doesn't seem like nothing."

She stopped her forward movement and looked me square in the eye, "Yes it is." She stated, then resumed her walking.

If women in this world were anything like women in my world, I decided that I should just leave her alone. If she hadn't talked to me about it yet, then she probably never would.

When we reached the practice branch, Neera, who appeared to have cooled off a little, said that I was to resume training immediately. An hour or so later, though, no visible progress had been made. I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

As I sat panting, a strange breeze blew across the branch. This breeze was especially chilly and seemed to surround me with its cold embrace. The next moment, I stood up, but not of my own doing. It felt as if my body was being controlled by another.

_**I'm with you**_, said the voice in my head. Then, without hesitation, I jumped off the branch. I began plummeting towards the ground, gaining velocity with every second. My heart was hammering in my chest. My body wouldn't respond to my commands, which didn't really matter anyway. I was so scared, I don't think I could've moved if I'd tried. _So this is yeep_, I thought.

I braced for impact as the ground raced to meet me. _**Don't think, boy! Trust in your gizzard!**_

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I cleared my mind of everything. Suddenly, I knew what to do. I felt an updraft coming, so I spread my wings. Just then, a blast of warm air hit me from below. Instantly, my free fall ceased. Again, I sensed a small gust of air coming towards my port side. I shifted my tail to make the most of it.

When the wind hit, I veered to the right, just as I had planned. I then noticed another current of warm air rising from Bubo's forge, this one much more violent than the first. I changed the pitch of my flight by angling my wings up. This took me into a much steeper rise than I had expected.

So...I went with it. I kept the motion going until the ground was the sky and vice versa. A few moments later, everything was all straightened out.

_This is amazing, _I thought, soaring in a straight line. I flapped my wings a few times to gain altitude. I was almost out of the branches and about to catch my first glimpse of the starry sky when Neera flew up and forced me to land on the nearest branch.

"What was that?" she yelled, "Are you yoiks? I thought you'd gone and offed yourself! What's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It just felt...right."

Neera thought for a moment, then looked back at me and said, "Well, don't do that again. I've got enough to worry about without you throwing yourself off of branches, all because 'it felt right'." She looked away from me then. "I don't know what I'd do if you... you...if something happened to you."

"Hey," I said, then I brushed her cheek with my wing tip. "Don't talk like that. Nothing's gonna happen to me."

She turned her head to look at me. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, but can we not talk about this now? I want to fly into the night sky. I want to see my path lit by the moon and stars. I want you to be with me when I do it."

"I'd love to," she replied, "but, only if you promise me one thing."

"What's that?" I asked.

Her cheek lifted from the side of her beak in a small grin. "Don't do anything to stupid."

"I'll try."

* * *

I reveled as the wind flew by me. So numerous were the stars in the sky that I couldn't tell where one ended and another began. I started pinpointing constellations, such as _Orion_ and the _Big Dipper_.

"Look," I shouted to Neera, "It's _Ursa Major!"_

She looked at me quizzically. "What are you talking about? That's the Great Raccoon."

Oh yeah. Different constellations.

"Is that what you call it? The first time I heard about it was in the Northern kingdoms from a polar bear. That's what _Ursa Major_ means, The Great Bear."

"I didn't know that." Stated Neera.

_That worked?_ I wondered. _Apparently, reading ahead on the character list pays off!_ Regardless of my small victory, though, it was time for a subject change, before things got _really_ feathery.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"No." she answered.

"But I..."

"I'm just kidding! What do you need?"

"I know that festival is coming up..."

"The Harvest festival." Neera supplied.

"Yeah, that one. Well, it's in two weeks and I was wondering if you could teach me how to dance?"

Neera feigned indecisiveness. "Well, I don't know. Can I get back to you sometime next week?" I laughed at this, and she started laughing, too.

A few moments later, she had me in the starting position for a dance she called the Glauc-Glauc.

"So you start by putting your weight forward and left, then back and left." I did as she described. "Good. That's one, two. Now for glauc-glauc-glauc." On each 'glauc', Neera moved to the left while swinging her tail back and forth. "Now you try."

I attempted to do the maneuver, but failed miserably. When I tried to shake my tail-feathers like Neera, I only succeeded in falling a short distance before catching myself on a branch... Upside down. I quickly righted myself by letting go and flapping hard with my port wing.

Neera smiled and suppressed a giggle. "It's ok, try again." This time I got it. I beamed at Neera who smiled back. "It's coming, but it still needs a lot of work. Now, the next part is just like the first two, only back and to the right, then forward and to the right. That's three and four. Just add another glauc-glauc-glauc, to the right this time, and you're done! Got it?"

"I think so." I tried the next portion of the step and actually did it correctly, however bad it may have looked.

"Terrific! You now know your basic step."

"Basic?" I asked, "That was the easiest?"

"In a sense, yes. If you can get that down where you don't have to think of it, though, it makes it easier when executing more complicated maneuvers."

"So, that's easy? How long does it take to learn enough to look cool?"

"The Glauc-glauc?" Neera thought for a moment, "You'll need to know an awful lot in order for it to look professional."

"Do you know any other dances? Particularly ones that don't take a lot to look decent?"

"Well, you could always learn the Glaucana. It's relatively easy and doesn't take much to look good." Neera paused and looked down at her talons, then back at me "It's very romantic."

If it was possible for an owl to blush, I would have been. "Oh, umm, sure. That one will work!"

"Ok, then! This one starts with a step forward, to the right and together," she demonstrated for me. "Then backwards, left, together."

"Seems easy enough." I said, "So, forward, right, together; backward, left, together. Forward, right, together; backward, left, together..."

* * *

"Forward, right, together; backward, left, together." I whispered under my breath as I put my practice to the test amidst the music and clamor of the Harvest Festival. Neera looked breathtaking. Her feathers straight, clean, and glistening. She donned her bandana and a string of milk-berries around her neck.

I lifted my wing to signal for an underarm, ahem, under_wing _turn. A moment later, Neera responded to my lead and executed the turn perfectly.

The song ended a moment later, and I attempted a gracefully dip my partner. Instead, I almost dropped her. Neera quickly recovered and we both laughed at my slip up.

"Let's get some tea." Neera suggested.

"Sounds good!" I answered, still churring.

We both lighted on a branch next to one of the blind nest-maid snakes. She had many nutshells of tea on her back, as well as a multitude of other liquids, some a little more spirituous than others. I had to dodge a large feathery form as it lumbered up towards the snake and grabbed a bottle of mead.

"Bubo! How are you doing?" I asked.

The old smith squinted his eyes at me for a moment before shouting, "Baron!" In the boisterous, slightly slurred speech of someone who is inebriated, "I'm good! Howsh you doin'? By the way, great job on your mid-termsh. You're well on your way to becoming a great shmith"

The stench of alcohol surrounded him like fog. I turned my head slightly to get a breath of fresh air. It didn't work.

"Thank you, sir. I'm happy to have such a great teacher."

"Think nushin' of it, boy. Now, if you'll excushe me, I have a danshe with a pretty lady." He turned and flew towards the snowy owl who was directing the nest-maid snakes playing the large grass harp and tapped her on the shoulder. She then turned and grabbed his outstretched wing.

"I can't believe Madame Plonk would stand for this!" stated a young female Spotted owl who was perched next to us.

"Stand for what?" I asked.

"For, for... that!" Otulissa explained. "For a drunken Bubo and whatever that is that they're doing!"

"Dancing?" I asked.

"That's not dancing. It's appalling!"

Gosh dang-it! She really was annoying. "Well, then, why don't you run along and tell that to Soren." I suggested. She seemed annoyed and a little put off, but flew away.

In the two weeks since my first flight, I had been attending chaw practices to find what I wanted to do for possibly the rest of my owl life. After much searching, and a little to much time spent with Otulissa in the Weather Interpretation chaw, I had found my call: Blacksmithing. I was actually really good at it. Surprisingly so for someone who couldn't drive a nail to save his life, let alone swing a hammer in just the precise way to form a lump of metal into something useful.

Also during that period of time, I was finally forced to confront Soren and the gang about how I knew so much about them. I explained, well lied, that I had been in the same pit with Soren, but had pretended to be moon-blinked so I could make my escape. Thankfully, they accepted my explanation, and were thankful that I had saved Eglantine. I hadn't told them that I was the one who had set her in front of the stone, as that would have probably pushed them over the edge.

"Baron," Neera whispered in my ear, "come with me. I want to show you something."

She led me to a side of the island I had never been to before. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" I asked.

"No, but this is the starting point. We're going for a little fly. Come on!" With that, she took off and started heading out across the sea of Hoole-mere. I followed her west in the direction of a little strip of land I had seen on a map in a book I'd found at the library.

* * *

After about half-an-hour of flying, we reached reached our destination. A small, rocky outcropping at the tip of the peninsula with one small tree on it.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked Neera.

"Because," She explained to me, "this is the best place to watch the comet from."

"Oh, yeah! That is tonight, isn't it?"

"Yes. The first time I saw the comet was from this very spot. My parents took me here when I had just learned how to fly. It's absolutely beautiful."

Just then, the sky lit up a bright orange color. We both looked up from our discussion to watch the comet crawl lazily through the sky. After a few moments of silent observation, I asked Neera something that had just dawned on me.

"Neera, I always hear you talking about your parents, and it sounds like you are really close to them, yet, I've never actually seen them."

Neera shrunk a little at this, her beautiful plumage seemed to dim at the mix of emotions that radiated off of her. At first she seemed sad, then angry, then remorseful, and then angry again. "I don't like to talk about it." She replied coldly.

"It can't be that bad." I responded.

"It is." She took a deep breath to steady herself before proceeding with her story, "My parents, didn't exactly meet the way I told you. My mother, you see, she was from the northern kingdoms. Well, actually, she was a princess in the northern kingdoms."

"Your mom was a princess?" I asked, "So, does that make you a princess too?"

"Hang on, hang on! Keep listening. I'll answer your questions if you just pay attention."

I nodded my head and clamped my beak shut.

"Ready? Good. Yes, she was a princess. She liked a young prince from another kingdom, but she was to be wed to a different prince for political reasons. She didn't like this, as she wasn't even the king and queen's real daughter. They had found her when she was only a fledgling and took her into their family, as she appeared to have none of her own.

"When they said she couldn't be with the prince, she ran away. She flew for many days and many nights, but as soon as she got to her love, he told her that she shouldn't have run away. That there were ways to get around an arranged marriage. He told her he would help if she agreed to fly back to her kingdom. So she did.

"Before she could get back, her fiancé, Skrythen'r, took her captive. When the other prince found out about this, he acquired the help of an old friend of his, an assassin named Boral. The two of them flew to the kingdom of Blythrik, where they found my mother beaten, bruised, and being kept in a dungeon. She was unconscious when they grabbed her, but part way to her kingdom she woke up. After they got her to calm down and explained how they had saved her, she told them that they hadn't. One night during her imprisonment, Skrythen'r had come into her cell and had had his way with her.

"When they returned to the palace, my mothers parents told her that since she had mated with Skrythen'r, she was his mate for life."

"So wait," I interrupted, "He basically raped her, but her parents were still going to force them to get married? I'm sorry, but your grandparents were jerks."

Neera sighed, "Yes, I agree. But you have to understand, she was with child. And not just any child at that, but the heir to the Blythrik throne. If the she were to be wed to someone else, it would most likely start a war between the two kingdoms. It was a tough position the king and queen were in."

"So... what happened?" I asked.

"The prince and my mother ran away. They flew as far as they could and finally collapsed on a rocky outcropping in the sea of Hoole-mere. When the monarchs of the tree heard of a pregnant snowy owl and her mate passed out on the rocks, they dispatched the search and rescue chaw to retrieve them. They explained their plight to the king and queen of Ga'Hoole, who decided to take them in and give them shelter.

"Eventually, the monarchs of the tree took them as their own children, and when they died, my parents became the king and queen of Ga'Hoole."

It took me a moment for the full meaning of this statement to sink in. "Your parents are Boron and Barran?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes." she replied.

"So, that means you are going to be the next high monarch of Ga'Hoole!"

"Not necessarily. If you remember, I'm not technically Boron's daughter."

"Oh, right. Your father is Skythenrer."

"Skrythen'r, but he's only my biological father, not my real da."

"Sorry. So, I still don't get why you're so angry at them. It sounds like they were awesome parents."

"They were. Back before they were king and queen, when I was still a child, they used to do everything with me. Da loved me as if I were his own. We used to do all kinds of things together, like come here. I can very clearly remember the first time they brought me here. I remember looking up at the comet as it soared through the sky, while my da wrapped his wing around me and my mum while she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Once they found out that they were to be king and queen, though, that all changed. I remember a few days after their coronation, me coming home from chaw practice... at the time I was still learning how to be a matron... and them looking me in the eye and telling me that I wasn't going to be able to stay with them anymore. As long as I was seen as their daughter, I was in danger. They wouldn't tell me of what, but they told me that I was to be placed in the care of the head matron, Marian."

"They did that?" I asked, "That just doesn't seem like the Boron and Barran I know."

Neera looked back at the comet, it's light casting a red glow on her face and glinting off the tears that were forming under her eyes. "It doesn't.", She said, then she turned and started sobbing into my chest. I gently wrapped my wings around her small, shaking form.

_Why would Boron and Barran do this to her?_ I wondered. I gently patted her back, trying my best to comfort her.

After a few minutes of gentle sobbing, Neera looked up at me through red, puffy eyes. In that one look, that one little look, I saw how she really felt about me, and I finally realized my true feelings for her.

"Thank you." She said.

"You're welcome." I replied, still holding her in my arms.

Neera, to my surprise, started preening me. But this was no normal preening. This was much more deep, more intimate. I started preening back.

We preened each other for a while, until the comet flared and drew our attention. We watched in silence for a while, just enjoying each others company. I was the first to break that silence.

"You know, since you told me your secret, I guess I should tell you mine."

Neera looked at me, her curiosity now piqued.

"I'm not from here." I stated.

"Well, yeah. I knew that."

"No, no. I mean, I'm not from_ here_. From this world."

Neera looked at me quizzically. "I'm not sure I understand."

"You know about the Others, right?" I asked.

"Ya, sure. Their the ones who lived here before we did."

"Well," I took a deep breath, "I'm one of them."

As soon as the words left my beak, Neera threw her head back and laughed. "I know about the others," She stated, "I've even seen pictures of them, and I can assure you that you are not one of them. Besides, they've been gone for decades."

"That's the other thing. Where I'm from, they're alive and thriving. We're, actually called humans. In my world, this world is a book series. It's why I know what's going to happen before it happens."

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I'm saying I know how events are going to play out. For example, Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger are leaving sometime tonight to go find the rouge smith of Silverveil so they can get information on Ezylryb's disappearance."

Neera jerked away from me. "Your yoiks!" she shouted.

"No, I'm not. I'm telling the truth. I was out backpacking when a Barred owl walked into my tent and slashed my face open. I passed out and when I woke up, I was in that forest fire. You have to believe me!" I pleaded.

"No. Either you think this is some kind of joke, or you've completely lost it. Either way, I'm leaving!" She then turned and flew back to the tree.

"No, Neera! Come back!" but it was to late. She was gone. I watched as her form slowly disappeared into the folds of darkness.

"No, Neera." I moaned. I looked down on at my talons and spotted something. I drifted to the ground and picked up a small package that was wrapped in paper and tied with a piece of string. I recognized it as the package Neera was holding that night that Trader Mags was at the tree. I slowly unwrapped it until I uncovered the small, blue stone I had been admiring. I moaned again.

"It's ok, boy. It's not the end of the world." Said a familiar voice. I turned quickly, but saw nothing except a cloud of strangely shifting mist on the peninsula about a quarter mile from where I was perched.

I lofted myself into the air and a minute or so later, I was perched on the branch of a dead tree in the outskirts of a forest of trees in similar condition.

"Hello?" I called, but no one answered. "Hello!"

"Yes?" Answered a voice that I now recognized as the voice that I had been hearing in my head. I turned around, but, once again, all I saw was the shifting mist.

This time, however, something did happen. I watched, awestruck, as the mist in front of me slowly formed into a familiar shape. My mouth fell open. There, standing right in front of me, close enough for me to reach out and slap, was the very owl from that night in my tent. The one that had done this to me. The one who had turned me into and owl.

"Hello, Baron." He said, "Did you miss me?"

**

* * *

A/N: Ahh, finally! I've been waiting to write those words for some time now! Evil, no? XD**

**But don't hold that cliffy against me. I still need you feedback. Please review!**

**Also, for any of you who want to learn how to dance, just follow Neera's instructions to learn the Cha-cha and the Box Waltz (and for all you guys who are laughing at me because I know ballroom dances, just remember... Chicks like guys who can Waltz. So you might want to look into it!)**

**And so we go.**


	7. The Hunt

**A/N: I would like to start this Authors note by apologizing for not having updated sooner. This year has been so crazy, and I've had so many other things to write, that I just couldn't find the time. And when I did find time, I couldn't think of anything to type. But, I am glad to say that I am back in the typing mood and ready to crank out some chapters XD**

**I will not keep you waiting any longer. Without further ado...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. It is the property of Mrs. Lasky and Scholastic Books. However, all of the characters mentioned in this chapter are mine with the exception of Barran.**

I stared speechless at the apparition before my eyes. How is this possible? But there he stood, staring at me with his pale, yet strangely alive looking eyes. The very owl who had turned me into this. The memory of that night sent a flood of anger coursing though my veins.

"You!" I sneered. Strangely, my beak refused to open.

"Yes," he responded without moving his beak. Apparently we didn't need that ability to communicate. "Did you expect someone else?"

I started to argue, but after some thought, realized that he was right. "So, what did you do to me."

But he didn't listen. Instead, the scroom stared at me and began to speak.

"Baron Marshal, you have been chosen by Glaux to fulfill the mission I was unable to finish in life. You have been sent to protect one who cannot hide from their own fate and keep the world in balance."

"What?" I asked, "What are you talking abou..."

"Second," he cut in again, "as your journey grows more difficult and your path is unsure, seek out the cackling bard." The ghost of the Barred owl locked eyes with me, "Become the Guardian." With those words, he gave a single flap of his wings, then disappeared into the mist, leaving me alone to solve his riddles.

_What does he mean?_ I thought, _Protect those who can't hide from fate? How can I protect somebody from fate?_

I silently pondered what the bird said until I felt a sharp crack to the back of my head. A moment later, my entire world went black.

I awoke feeling nauseous. My head pounded from it's sudden impact with the heavy chunk of wood and my stomach roiled. I slowly cracked my eyes open to take in my surroundings.

I was in what appeared to be a hole in the ground. Probably the work of a few Burrowing owls. The moister was so thick that my feathers stuck to my skin. A few coals in the corner cast an erie glow around the room.

A moment later, I felt something jabbing into my lower back, "Don't turn around unless you want to die." Instructed a deep voice

I didn't dare turn to see who it was. The stranger spoke with a thick German accent. Or whatever the owl equivalent of German was.

"Good," he said, "Now, here is what you are going to do. You see coals?" I nodded my head.

"I have bag filled with stones. You make thirty sets of demon claws in three days and I let you live to see fourth. Understand?"

I assumed he was talking about Battle Claws, "Thirty in three days? That's impossible! There's no way..." I was cut short as the owl shoved the weapon a little harder into my back, causing me to wince.

"You learn at tree. I've seen how fast you tree owls make demon claws. I return in three nights. You will be done." It was more of a statement than a question.

"And what's stopping me from flying off?" I asked.

"If you run, I will hunt you, and I will find you. Got it?"

"Got it." I responded.

"I leave now. You will count to thirty, then you may turn around. If you turn before thirty, you die."

He removed the blade, causing small rivulets of blood to run down my back as I began counting. "One, two, three, four..." I heard the owl's footsteps slowly retreating down the tunnel, then silence.

"...eleven, twelve, thirteen..." _Is he still watching?_

"...nineteen, twenty, twenty-one..." The silence had become deafening. He had to be gone. But what if he wasn't?

"...twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty."

I opened my eyes but didn't turn immediately. I listened for even the slightest noise, the tap of a talon, the rustle of a feather, anything that would that would tell me if the other owl was still there.

Silence.

I slowly rotated my head. He was gone.

I turned to make my way out of the cave when my foot brushed against a burlap sack. _What do we have here?_

I used my talons to untie the small piece of string. The bag fell open to reveal an assortment of ores and metals. I sifted through the piles of iron, copper, a few random stones, and some coal. They really didn't know what they were doing. Rogue smiths hadn't figured out a use for coal yet, so it was considered a "useless metal". Had the other owl known this, he wouldn't have given me any.

As well as a few tools, I found a small bag buried under all the other stones. When I opened it, I was shocked to see a mass of small bits of metal all sticking together.

"Flecks!" I breathed. They really didn't know what they had. Flecks were highly valued and wouldn't be given out so lightly.

_Maybe it's St. Aggies?_ I thought, _No, that can't be. They might not be the brightest owls, but they definitely wouldn't give flecks out to random Smiths._

I debated the possibility that this was the Pure Ones' doing._ No, they wouldn't give out flecks either. Heck, they have Ezylryb in a Devil's Triangle right now!_

The thought of Ezylryb's plight gave me an idea. I looked again at the materials that the owl had provided, a plan forming in my head. I grabbed up the prongs and stoked the fire in the forge. If it was weapons the owl wanted, it was weapons he was going to get!

I stood on an outcropping that overlooked the cave which I had spent the last three days in. The rising sun glinted off my newest contraption, a copper helmet which now covered my head. It wasn't anything fancy, just an elongated bowl with a slit up the center which then branched off, making a 'T', allowing me to see and breath.

The rock beneath my feet clicked every time I tapped the deadly blade of the battle claw attached to my foot impatiently.

"Where is he?" I muttered to myself.

A speck in the distance drew my attention. Yes, it was definitely an owl. Spotted by the looks of it. As he came closer, I saw that, clenched in his talon, was a blade of some sort. It looked kind of like a butchers knife, only much bigger. I also noted a quiver strapped to his waist. _What?_ I thought, _No bow?_

He was flying straight towards the hollow. _I wonder how long it will take him to find me?_

As if in answer, the other owl's head swiveled to face me. His gaze locked with mine. A long, jagged scar ran from the bird's forehead to his left cheek, crossing his eye, which he now held half open.

_This is it_.

I watched and waited. As he came closer, I started to panic. _Did I place it right? Of course I did. It worked when I tested it._

At that moment, the Spotted Owl's face turned to one of confusion. He turned mid-dive and flew straight towards one of the many boulders that littered the landscape around here. A moment later, he noticed his mistake and veered to his left, flying directly into another rock. He braced himself for the impact, shoulder slamming into the solid surface, before he fell to the ground, where he lay perfectly still.

Is he dead? I thought.

He rolled over onto his stomach and stood up, gripping his injured shoulder with his opposite wing.

"What is this?" The dazed owl asked, "What is this magic?"

"It's not magic," I stated cooly, "That's a Devil's Triangle."

"I'll kill you!" the owl cursed. I smirked before turning to leave.

He shouted more obscenities, but his voice faded in the distance. Copper, or mu metal, helmets block out more than just magnetic fields, it seems. _Well, there's one problem dealt with. It'll take him a while to figure how to get out of that. Just as long as nobody at the tree finds out that I used higher magnetics..._

The thought of the tree triggered a flood of memories. In every one, Neera's face was the most prominent feature. I thought about the first time I'd seen her, the way the moonlight in my hollow set ablaze the white feathers on her face, the way she would smile while we flew together at night flight, the way she would fluff up a bit when she laughed, her breathtaking form flying away from me while I sat alone in the spirit woods.

I shook my head. This was no time to dwell on the past. Right now I had to focus on escape. I had gotten away for a little while, but if he was as good of a hunter as he claimed to be, then I didn't have long.

My first task was to figure out where I was. The rocky terrain left no doubt in my mind that I was in the Beaks. The sun rises in the East, so I just had to set a course 90º west of the rising sun. With any luck, I would be at the shoreline of the Sea of Hoolemere in three days time.

I had been flying for about an hour when an unfamiliar bird call reached my ear-slits. It wasn't like any bird I'd ever heard. As I looked to my left, I saw a black feathered bird with a pointed beak flying beside me. For the most part, he was looking straight ahead, but he would occasionally look at me and caw in that awful crackled voice. After a few moments, I heard a similar cry to my right. When I looked, a blackbird was there as well.

"Crows" I whispered under my breath. _Not now. This is the last thing I need!_ A moment later, I heard the flapping of not two, but five pairs of wings behind me. I turned to look at the one on my left when I felt beak close down on my right wing. When I turned to deal with that crow, the one on my left scratched at me with his talons, sending a wave of pain up my wing. _They're mobbing me!_ I thought.

The one to my right was about to attack. I could feel it. I suddenly dropped in altitude right as the wretched bird tried to throw himself at me. Instead, he slammed into the crow on my left, sending them both into a spiral.

I had to act now while the three behind me were still recovering. I adjusted my wings and flew straight up for a moment, before reversing again and landing on the center one's back. My battle claws made quick work of this one, and I sent him tumbling to the ground in a heap of blood and feathers.

Two more left. The one on my right lunged at me, talons extended. I reached out with my battle claws and took ahold of the smaller bird's feet. Throwing my weight forward, I performed a summersault, throwing the blackbird into his doomed partner. The two of them tumbled to the ground. I didn't so much as wince when I heard the dull thud of impact.

The two who still lived were quick to retreat. They had met their match.

Me.

_Wait, me? How did I do that? I've only been flying for like, what, a month? How did I know all those moves?_

I would have to think on this later. At the moment, I had to find somewhere to rest. It didn't matter how much danger I was in, or that I was being followed by an expert hunter. I couldn't keep fighting crows.

I scanned the ground for a suitable place to perch for the day. But all I could find were rocks. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. No trees to be seen.

The sound of a rodent scampering around below caught my attention. I searched the ground until I found the mouse, then tucked my wings by my side. Extending my talons, I landed on the surprised animal which gave a short cry of panic. I ended his suffering quickly, bending to bite at his spine. The taste of his blood in my mouth made my gizzard rumble. A clean kill.

As I tore at my catch, my thoughts drifted to the fight. _How did I do that? I can't fight! I can barely fly! It was like I just knew what to do. I've never even attempted half of those moves._

I flipped the last piece of meat into my mouth before turning my attention back to my current predicament. _There's obviously no trees, but what about one of those holes in the ground?_

It took several minutes of searching, but eventually I found one such of these holes and peered into the darkness. To my horror, the darkness was peering back.

I drew a sharp breath and took a step backwards, dropping into a defensive crouch. I didn't know what was in that hole, but it wasn't going to get the better of me. but instead of some terrifying beast, I was faced by a little fledgling owl. His big round eyes were in sharp contrast to his small body. His white fluff only went as far as the tops of his legs.

"Hi! My name's Sreek! What's your name?"

I stared at the little burrowing owl, not sure what to say. "H-hi. I'm Baron."

The little owl gasped. "Are you...the Barran? The queen of the great tree?"

The question caught me off guard. I glanced over my feathers and such to see what made him think that I was a female.

"Umm, no, actually. Barran's a queen, which means she's a female."

"So you're a female?" asked the little owl.

"No, I'm a male."

"Oh." He said, "What's does male and female mean?"

Just then, another burrowing owl came out of the hole. "Sreek, what are you doing up?" Called a distinctly male voice, "Don't you know that there are some bad owls out at d..." He paused as his head came out of the hole and he got his first look at me. I must have looked intimidating, my helmet and blood-stained battle claws shining in the sunlight.

"You get back!" He yelled, pushing his son behind him.

"But da! It's Barran! The Queen of Ga'Hoole! Just like in the stories you told me!"

"I've already told you! I'm not that Barran, I'm another Baron!"

"So, You're not Barran?" Asked the father of the young owl.

"Yes! I mean no. I mean...I'm Baron, but not that Barran!"

"Which Barran?"

"I'm...she...not...Ahh!" I shouted in exasperation, ripping the helmet from my head and throwing it aside.

"I get it!" Shouted the father, "You're not Barran, the queen of Ga'Hoole, but rather Baron, the random Barred Owl?"

"Yes! I shouted, "Wait, some random owl?"

The male owl seemed unfazed by my question. "Well, state your intentions, Baron."

I realized that I still seemed threatening, even without my helmet, so I quickly undid my battle claws and threw them to the side. "Sir, I must find a place to spend the day. Would you allow me to sleep here for a few hours before nightfall?"

"I don't know..." The father was interrupted by a female voice calling out from inside the hollow. "Zarias! Who are you talking to at this time of the morning?"

Out of the hole popped the head of a female burrower, who fixed me with her gaze. "Who is this?" She asked.

"This is Baron. He wants to spend the day with us."

The female stared at me for a moment, then seemed to focus on my wings. The female's face instantly changed from one of suspicion to one of caring. "Oh dear! You're injured! Come in, come in!"

"Darling, we don't know anything about this owl. For all we know, he'll kill us all in our sleep!"

The female rolled her eyes and made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Oh Zari, you can't be suspicious all the time! After all, if he had wanted to kill us, he would have done it already, hmm?" She looked towards her mate, clearly expecting a reply.

"I suppose he can come in," The male said grudgingly, "but I still don't like it."

The female ignored her husband's last statement and instead turned to me. "Come inside! I'll mix you a poultice. We'll have you fixed up in no time!"

The female led me inside and bandaged my injured wing before showing me where I was to sleep for the day. As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but think one more thing in that time when you're not quite awake, yet not fully asleep._ I'm on my way home, Neera._

I awoke after what felt like a few minutes. I wasn't sure what had woken me, but I refused to open my eyes._ It's too early to wake up!_

I tried to take in my surroundings without opening my eyes. All I could hear was a constant dripping. What was that?

A moment later, I heard a clap of thunder. _Figures there would be leaks. I miss the hollows back at the tree._

I was disrupted from my thought of home by the feeling of water touching my foot. _Oh gosh! This leak is bad_. I moved my foot out of the puddle and realized that the water was warm and sticky. A sense of foreboding filled my chest. Whatever I was standing in, it wasn't water. I resisted the temptation to open my eyes, which brought to my attention that there was no light filtering in through the opening to the hollow. There should be light if it was still day out, even if there was a storm. Why was it so dark?

I slowly cracked my eyes open. Something was obscuring my vision. I backed up a bit to see what it was, but it was too dark. A flash of lightning lit up the interior of the hollow, and for a moment, I was able to clearly see Zarias hanging from his feet from the roof, eyes wide, a gash in his throat, blood dripping off his head. I jumped back from the gruesome image. What's happening?

A quiet sob came from somewhere behind me, and I turned around to see the tiny form of Sreek laying over the body of his mother who's face was thankfully turned away from me.

"Mum? Mum? Wake up mum. Please? Mum!"

I tried to speak, but nothing came out. I tried to take a step forward, but something kept me rooted to the spot.

A scraping sound to my right drew my attention. There stood my hunter, his knife in one talon, a rock in the other. He kept running the rock along the blade of the knife, sharpening the tool of death.

"Take good look." He said in his thick accent. "You caused this." He ran the rock along the edge of his blade again. "Pity." He started, his slowly looked up from the blade, "I thought killing you would be much more enjoyable."

I opened my beak to speak, but the other owl lunged at me, pinning me to the ground and pressing his knife to my throat. I tried to scream, but nothing came out.

"Good night, Baron."

"No!" I shouted as I shot forward from my sleeping position, three sets of eyes staring at me.

"Are you okay?" Asked Zarias.

"Wow! You screamed really loud!" commented Scree.

"I shouldn't have come here!" I shouted. The two adults looked confused.

"I'm sorry I've brought you into this. I'm being chased by this spotted owl. He says he's a tracker. And now I've put your family in danger! I'm so sorry!"

"Shh, shh," The female comforted. "It was just a bad dream."

"It's not a dream! It's happening!"

Zarias spoke up, "Did this owl have a scar down his left eye?"

"Yes, He did."

"Frink." the other owl cursed, his mate cringing at the word, "That's Dominik. He's bad news. Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I don't know! I was scared and I needed somewhere to stay. With everything else, I guess I just didn't think to mention it. I'm so sorry!"

The other owl held up a wing, "It's already done. What's important now is getting out safely. Tell me, Baron, where was it that you were heading before you stopped? Where you returning to your family?"

"No, actually, I was heading for the tree."

"What tree?"

"The tree. Of Ga'Hoole?"

The female owl threw her head back and laughed. "Are you yoiks? The tree of Ga'Hoole doesn't exist!"

Her mate, on the other hand, wasn't laughing. "No. We aren't going there." He said resolutely.

The female stared at him, a look of confusion on her face. "Because it's not real, right? We're not going because it's not real?"

"Oh, believe me, Lari, It does exist! There is indeed a race of stuck up scholars and poets who stay in their big social club all night. There is no way under Glaumora that we are going there."

Lari starred at her mate, "You've got to be joking! The tree's just a myth! A story that we tell our son when he can't get to sleep!"

"No!" piped in Scree who had remained silent for most of the conversation, "It's not just a story. It's real!"

"Yes, son, it's real. And we're not going."

"But we don't have a choice!" I shouted. What was it with this owl? What did he hate so much about the great tree?

"Look, I..." Zarias stopped his explanation and listened intently.

"I hear wingbeats." He stated. A pang of fear welled up in my chest

"We need to get out of here!" I ordered.

Lari began to argue, "Bu..."

"Now!"

"There's a rear exit." Stated Zarias, "We can sneak out that way."

"Mum? What's going on?"

"Shh," The mother soothed her child, "Everything's going to be alright."

The male burrowing owl rolled away a stone to reveal a small passageway, just big enough for a burrowing owl to fit through. Zarias rushed the rest of his family into the hole, then looked at me.

"Can you fit?" he asked.

I tried to fit my head into the tiny opening, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it.

The father turned to his wife, "Darling, listen, I need you to take Scree to the mesquite."

"Bu..."

"Please. We'll meet you there." With that, he rolled the stone back over the hole in the ground.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We're taking the long way."

"No." I ordered, "It's my fault your family is in danger. I won't let you put your life at risk."

"I agree, my family is in danger." He stated, "And I intend to keep them out of it."

I nodded. Nothing I could say was going to sway this resolute father. The two of us made our way to the hollow entrance. I slowly stuck my head out of the hole and checked my surroundings.

It was full night now. There might have been a moon out, but the dark clouds that were already covering the sky didn't let it show. It smelled like rain.

The flapping sound had stopped.

"Clear." I whispered behind me. The two of us made our way to the first rock and to the relative safety of the shadows. I did a quick sweep of the ground and air behind us to check for motion.

Nothing.

I nodded at Zarias who nodded back before peering around our cover. After a moment, he motioned with his wing to move. I went first, running as fast as I could. Five feet. Ten feet. Twenty feet. I was almost there. Just one more hurdle, a small stone that lay in my path. I vaulted myself over the rock, glancing down to see if I cleared it. Shockingly, the rock was looking back.

I stumbled when I hit the ground._ What the...? _The rock, which I now found to be a small bundle of black feathers, continued to look at me with dull, yellow eyes. I grabbed to body with my talon and drug it to cover. When Zarias got there, He looked at the bird with curiosity.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Don't know. He was in my way."

Zari bent down to examine the bird, rolling onto its back to get a closer look. "A crow." He stated. He examined the blackbird closer. "Wound to the neck." He stated, "lots of blood." Without warning, the burrowing owl flipped the crow onto it's front and pecked at its spine, instantly ending the blackbird's life.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"He was finished. He wasn't going to survive." He reassured me, "He definitely wouldn't have lived after I did this." Zarias bit at something in the wound. With a little tug, he withdrew what appeared to be a needle.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I don't know." He said, spitting the foreign object at my feet. "I was about to ask you the same question."

I shrugged. Something kept tugging at the back of my mind. _I swear I've seen this before. But where?_

"We need to move." Zarias reminded me.

"Right."

I slowly edged my head around the boulder, being careful not to make any sudden movements. One shape stuck out to me. It was slightly ovular, sitting on top of one of the rocks. I peered hard at the thing, trying to make out details in the darkness. A sudden flash of lightning from behind me lit up the landscape, and in that split second, I locked eyes with my hunter.

I yanked my head back around the rock. "He's there. I think he saw me."

"Are you sure?" Zarias asked. I heard a hissing noise, and one of those needles slammed into the rock right beside my head.

"Pretty sure!"

"Move!" The other owl shouted.

We sprinted around the rock, the sound of flapping wings close on our tails. I ran as fast as I could, trying to keep up with Zarias' twisting and weaving through the rocks. After a few seconds, though, I lost sight of the smaller bird. _Frink! I forgot how fast burrowers were!_

I listened for the sound of wingbeats behind me, but couldn't hear any. I glanced over my shoulder to see where our pursuer had gone. He wasn't there.

I dug my heels into the earth and slid to a stop. _What's happening?_ I rotated my head back and forth, searching the terrain around me and listening for any sign of movement. I heard nothing. I saw nothing.

Had Dominik left? What was going on? Where was Zarias? This last question was the most disturbing. _Should I call out to him? No. I just have to look._

I started into a slow jog, being careful to make as little noise as possible. Where was he? I looked at my feet and noticed something I hadn't seen before: The remnants of tiny owl footprints. They wrapped around the rock in front of me before disappearing out of sight. _How did I not notice that before?_ I mentally slapped myself before following the tracks.

I curved between the boulders, following my tiny friend's footprints. Every corner I came to seemed like a threat. I knew Dominik was still out there, and every time I came around one of the large stones, I expected to come talon to talon with the deadly hunter.

After several twists and turns, I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard something up ahead. It sounded like a stifled cry followed by a thud.

I stepped around the corner. There in front of me stood Dominik. He had Zarias pinned to the ground with one of his talons.

I felt a drop of rain hit the feathers on top of my head.

"There you are." The spotted owl stated, "Thank you for finally joining us."

**A/N: I know, another cliff hanger. Yes, the last one didn't turn out so well, but I promise I won't keep you waiting for nearly as long for the next chapter. This time it will only take two months XD**

**(Just kidding)**

**Also, I posted a picture of Baron and Neera on Devientart. Now, I'm not that good of an artist, but hey, it gets the main idea down. My profile name is the same as the one here: Hodgepodge11. If you check it out, just know that I drew Baron first. That's why he isn't as good as Neera. He was kind of my experimental owl XD**

**Anyway, I'll be posting the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a comment!**


	8. The Wound

**Disclaimer: _The Guardians of Ga'Hoole _series is the property of Kathryn Lasky. Only the characters of Baron, Neera, Zarias, Dominik, and Philip...and Malak...and Boral...(gosh I have a lot of freaking OCs)...and Skrythn'r...and any others that I forgot belong to me.**

**A/N at the bottom.**

* * *

My name is Baron Marshal. I was caught out in the middle of a storm while backpacking when a Barred Owl came into my tent and clawed my face. After receiving the wound, I fell unconscious and woke up in the land of Ga'Hoole as a Barred Owl in the middle of a forest fire. I was rescued by Ezylryb and transported to the Great Tree.

I was nursed back to health by a Matron named Neera, whom I took a fancy to, and our relationship quickly flourished. After I had recovered, I took up a job as a smith, which I had a natural skill for.

One night, during the Harvest Festival, Neera told me her secret, that she was the daughter Barran, one of the high matriarchs, and Lord Skrythn'r of the Northern Kingdoms, who had kidnapped and raped her mother. She was rescued by Boron and his friend Boral, but before they made it back to the tree, Skrythn'r had sworn that he would have his revenge.

After she revealed her secret, I told her that I was once a human. She thought I was crazy and flew off, but before I could go after her, a ghost of the owl who showed up in my tent appeared and said that I was there to finish a job that he had been unable to in his life. That I was to protect someone from their own fate and restore balance to this world. Then he vanished.

I was left to puzzle out what he meant, but before I could figure anything out, I was knocked unconscious by a Great-Horned Owl named Dominik, who then left me in a burrow with all the materials I needed for smithing and told me to construct thirty pairs of Battle claws on pain of death. Instead, I set a trap for the owl, constructing a devil's triangle.

When he came back and was trapped, I ran. Eventually, I stumbled across a hollow belonging to a family of Burrowing Owls, and they agreed to take me in. That night, I told them about Dominik and they instantly realized who it was, informing me that he was a deadly tracker. It was then that we decided to leave.

Zarias, the father, decided that his mate and son should go out the back way, and that he and I would go out front and distract Dominik long enough for the others to escape. He attacked us, and we got split up, when we saw Dominik, but I eventually found the smaller owl again...under the foot of Dominik.

I stepped around the boulder and stood facing the larger owl, and I felt a drop of rain land on my head...

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**The Wound**

Another drop of rain fell from the sky, landing on my head. My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. My eyes were locked with the Spotted Owl who had been chasing us. Zarias groaned.

Dominik had his foot planted firmly on the Burrowing Owl's back. The sound of crunching dirt was clearly pronounced as the Spotted Owl twisted his foot, grinding Zari further into the dirt.

"Let him go." I commanded, "It's me you want, not him."

"No, I wanted demon claws. You didn't deliver." He stated, "However, the trip wasn't a total loss. I now have use for the sticky metal."

Damn it! I shouldn't have left him with the devils triangle! I thought, trying not to show the panic that began welling up inside me.

"I see you weren't planning on me trying to figure out how you trapped me, did you?" Apparently, I wasn't doing as good a job of hiding my feelings as I thought I was.

"At least you were of some use to us..." He said, then glanced down at the smaller owl under his foot, "Before you had to die."

Dominik tightened his clasp on the small Burrowing Owl. I heard a gasp of pain and a cracking sound, then Zarias went silent.

"No!" I shouted.

Dominik cast the smaller owl carelessly aside. His body hit the ground, then bounced once, before sliding to a stop.

I stared, unbelieving. No. He can't be dead. There's no way he's dead!

I hung my head for a moment, trying to process what was going on. So many emotions fought for attention. So I latched onto the strongest, my anger, and let it consume me.

I looked up at the Spotted Owl and growled, "You."

Dominik lifted his butcher-knife-blade from where it lay on the ground, leaving the point planted firmly in the dirt, and began inspecting the razor edge. "Yes, me." he said, nonchalantly, "And now..." the attitude of indifference left his face as he slowly turned his head to face me, the moonlight reflecting crimson in his eyes, "...You."

Dominik lifted his wings, then beat down hard, throwing himself into a front-flip. The momentum brought the blade arcing over his body...and straight towards me. I leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the blade, but fell hard on my back.

I kept the roll going and flipped back onto my feet. When I looked up, the blade was planted where I had just been lying. I looked up just in time to see the bottom of Dominik's foot as it slammed into my beak. I stumbled backwards, the sting of the blow causing tears to blur my vision.

While I tried to blink my vision clear, I saw the shadowy form of Dominik rush towards me. Before I could process the situation, my body instinctually leapt forward. I threw my weight back, grabbed the feathers of the Spotted Owl's chest, then used his momentum to hoist him into the ground.

I kicked him in what I hoped was his head, then pushed off of the Spotted Owl. I got back on my feet, then turned to face my opponent who, to my surprise, was not rushing towards me to attack. Instead, he was laughing. Not the usual churr that most of the owls used to express amusement, but an eerily human sounding laugh.

"Aha! Yes! That's the Boral I know!" he said.

I gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid games with me." he spat, "I knew it was you from when I first saw you!"

I didn't let my guard down. "I don't know who you think I am, but I assure you that I am not him."

He paused for a moment, glaring at me, then he grinned and started to laugh again. "You really have forgotten!" he shouted with psychotic glee, "Well, let me refresh your memory. You are feared by many, but only fear three yourself. One is dead, the second is too far away for you to worry about..."

I tried not to show my growing panic. "And the third?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Is me."

He lunged upwards, taking his blade into the air, before dropping it towards me. I dove to the side, but felt a tug at my foot and a pop in my talon, then fell forward. Rolling over, I saw the blade arc vertically through the air towards my midsection. I threw myself to the side and leapt to my feet, digging my talons into the ground. My left foot slid further than it should have. I looked down to find a bloody stump was all that remained of my outer talon. It was bleeding profusely and was now turning the mud slightly red.

A moment later, I was hit by an intense wave of pain and nausea. I looked up just in time to duck a blade aimed at my throat. I felt it a tug on my scalp, then searing pain ripped through my senses.

I backpedaled, reaching blindly behind me, a plan somewhat forming in my head. I glanced backwards for a moment, then heard the blade slice through the air and hit the ground right in front of me. I saw that Dominik was shifting forward, preparing to strike with his blade again.

My vision was beginning to blur, my head was swimming, and blood from my head-wound kept dripping in my eye. At that moment, my wing made contact with boulder. Without thinking, I placed my bad foot against the rock, pushed off, and threw myself at the Spotted Owl.

I caught him in the chest, biting at his throat, and ripping. I only managed to rip out a beak-full of feathers, though, and he answered my attack by rolling backwards, grabbing my chest with his talons and slamming me to the ground.

I tried to get away from the Spotted Owl, but he kept his foot planted firmly on my chest. After a moment, I stopped struggling, as every movement sent my head pounding again.

We owls, and all birds for that matter, don't have that much blood in our bodies to start with, as too much liquid would weigh us down when flying. So, losing even a little is a bad thing.

In the few minutes that the fight had lasted, I had lost a lot. I sat there panting. My entire leg throbbed. Blood still streamed down my head. The puncture wounds in my chest felt as if they were on fire.

On the bright side, it was always a possibility that I could die from blood-loss before he could do anything too terribly nasty to me.

Dominik stood over me, glaring down into my eyes. A grin toyed at the edge of his beak and he began chuckling. Then he bent over, putting his beak right next to my ear.

"Well," He sneered, "I expected more from you, Boral."

I clacked my beak twice, a feeble rebuttal, but it was all I could manage. I had begun feeling nauseous and a little light headed.

"You're even weaker than last time we met. You're girlfriend made you soft, no?"

My brain was moving almost sluggishly, so it took me a moment to register what he said. When he did, my eyes widened, in panic. He knew about Neera?

"Ahh, yes, I forgot to tell you! While you were sitting around setting your trap, I was getting orders on my next target. It turns out that my boss has taken a fancy in that snowy female of yours! What was her name, Nero? Nita?"

I narrowed my eyes, swinging my head forward and biting onto his front talon. I though I could do some damage, but he simply kicked me away as if I were a stray feather

"Don't worry, I'll treat her like a lady." He sneered, "Boss wants her looking pretty when he gets her."

He stood up straight and laughed again, then lifted his foot from my chest. I couldn't so much as roll over. My head swam and I was doing all I could just to remain conscious. My vision was beginning to darken. I didn't notice when he grabbed the rock. I felt the heavy weight slam into my head. My ears began ringing and my vision flashed, but I didn't fall unconscious. I whimpered slightly, and he brought it down again, the blow completely blinding me, but I remained awake. I waited for the third strike, but it didn't come.

Some of my vision returned in time for me to see Dominik drop the rock and take a step back. What is he doing? I wondered. Suddenly, something dark slammed into the larger owl. Dominik pushed the smaller bundle of feathers off and turned to face it, ready to fight. Then he looked somewhere behind me, and instead turned and flew away, leaving his knife stuck in the ground.

The bundle of black feathers moved and began to stand. Crows! I thought blearily, although, there was nothing I could have done to stop them. As my vision faded again, the dark feathered bird turned to look at me. The last thing I remember seeing were the black, hauntingly vacant orbs of a Barn Owl's eyes.

* * *

I awoke with a start, panting and covered in sweat. Neera looked over at me from where she was perched in the window of our hollow.

"What's wrong, dear? Are you alright?" She asked.

I shook my head, trying to clear the disturbing images. "I'm fine. Just had a nightmare."

Neera seemed relieved, but still had a slight look of concern. "About that night?"

I glanced down at the pale stump where my talon had once been. "Yeah. That one." I replied, grasping at the fragments of the extremely vivid dream as they slipped from my memory and fell into whatever dark corners of the mind that bad dreams came from.

A look of sadness came into her eyes and she walked over to where I sat. She slipped behind me and began preening the feathers on my back. "It's okay. It's over now. He can't hurt you anymore."

I tried to remember what happened to Dominik, but I was distracted as Neera ran her beak through a mussed up patch of feathers, her treatment sending shivers of pleasure down his spine.

"I should have bad dreams more often." I stated, "If I get this kind of treatment."

Neera peered around my shoulder, grinning, and stated "Don't get too used to it", then flew over to the window of our hollow.

I stood up and stretched; one wing and foot, then the other side. After that, I slowly puffed up my feathers until they were as far out as they could get, then shook. I wasn't sure what rousing actually accomplished, but it felt good after a nap!

Then I walked over and settled down on the window perch with Neera, sliding in close to her. We sat there for several minutes, watching as the first rays of sunlight began reaching up over the horizon, simply enjoying the other's presence. Neera was first to break the revelry, as she reached over and playfully picked at a few of my feathers.

"Hey!" I nipped at a few of her feathers as well.

"Stop it!" She playfully yelled. I stopped my tugging and, instead, started preening her back feathers. After a moment, she shuddered. "Ahh, that's much better. I will accept your terms of surrender."

"Surrender?" I paused in my ministrations and gave her a quizzical look. "What makes you think I'm surrendering?"

"Well, possibly your immediate submission, quickly followed by a long overdue preening."

I smiled back and replied, "Oh really? Is it possible that I might be buttering you up for something?"

She smiled coyly at me and asked "And what could you possibly be buttering me up for?"

"Oh, you know, this and that."

"Ahh, well, I'm afraid 'this and that' is going to have to wait. The owlets will be back any time now from chaw practice."

I smiled at the thought of our little ones. Two girls and one boy. Or was it the other way around?

Suddenly, something seemed wrong. This was all too right.

"Honey, how old are the children now?"

Neera looked at me with a shocked look on her face. "How do you not know how old our chicks are?"

"Alzheimer's moment, I guess."

"A what moment?" She asked. Suddenly, memories began rushing back to me. Memories of my human years, being turned into an owl, telling Neera about what had happened. Her flying back to the tree. In all honesty, I couldn't remember having made up for that, or having become mates, or having kids!

What's happening!? I felt a sudden pain in my head. A dull throbbing sensation that seemed to fill my entire skull. I felt myself growing further away from Neera, who kept smiling at me, even though I felt as if I was falling. Falling.

* * *

I sat upright in my cot at the infirmary wing in the great tree. A wing I had come to know far too well. I also felt a sudden and violent throbbing sensation in my skull. Another thing that had become a little too customary for my taste.

I lay back down and let out a small groan. After a moment, the throbbing receded a bit and I was able to do a full check of my condition. My left leg felt stiff, almost as if the muscles had locked up and wouldn't release. I wiggled all of my talons, and everything felt the same. I even felt my left outer talon...

Despite my previous failed attempt, I sat back up again, and looked down at my foot. To my utter disappointment, my talon was still missing. I didn't have much time to grieve, though, as my head began to swim again, and I was forced to lay back down.

A moment later, one of the matrons, Silla, I believe her name was, came striding into the room. "Ahh, I'm so glad to see you're up!" She said cheerfully.

"Can't say I feel the same." I groaned, the throbbing reaching a new peak in my head.

"Ahh, yes, of course, you probably have a splitting head-ache right now."

I mumbled an assent to her statement and closed my eyes as another wave of pain washed through my body.

The matron clicked her tongue and approached me, "Here take this. It will help with the pain." She offered me a small cup full of liquid. She held it up to my beak and I drank gladly. I almost shuddered in delight as the taste of milkberry tea filled my mouth and covered the back of my throat.

"There you go, deary. Drink up. You lost so much blood. We were worried you weren't going to make it for a while. You and your little friend..."

My eyes suddenly widened, and I nearly choked on the tea. After I coughed and spluttered for a moment, I wiped my beak with my wing and asked, "Zari! He's alive? How is he!?"

The nurse didn't seem to be too concerned by my sudden outburst, but instead, calmly answered, "Yes, he's alive. Those Burrowing Owls are tough little birds, they are. He's still unconscious. Had a couple broken ribs and a deflated air sac. We think he should make it, though."

I lay my head back and sighed. At least he's okay. I didn't think I would have been able to tell the news of his death to his mate and son.

"What about his family?" I asked

"They're fine. Your rescuers found them first. That female Burrowing Owl told the chaw where you two were."

"And who was it, exactly, who rescued us?"

"That would be me." I looked in the direction that the voice had come from. A Barn Owl seemed to materialize out of the shadows. As he stepped into the light, I saw why he was so hard to detect. All of his feathers were varying shades of black and brown. I had remembered hearing something about Black Barn Owls once, but I had never actually seen one.

He took several long strides towards my bedside. "And several of the best owls from the Search and Rescue chaw. You two were lucky we were even there. We were chasing a lead that Ezylryb had been seen in those parts. We didn't know we were going to find our missing smith instead."

"Well, thank you, uhh..."

"Lieutenant Philip." He provided.

"Then I am in your debt, Lieutenant. Thank you." I nodded my head slightly at the darker owl. Now that he was closer, I inspected his feathers, noticing how they were almost camouflaged. The way the colors blended together, like the the shadows that danced across the forest floor at night...

"No matter how hard you stare, Mr. Baron, they're not going to turn white." I hadn't even noticed that I was staring until he said so.

"Sorry, I wasn't...I'm not..."

"It's alright. I'm quite used to uncomfortable or...distrustful...glances from the other owls. That's why me and my family keep mostly to ourselves."

I looked up at him, "You have a family?"

"Yes, a mate and three children."

The comment about his three kids sent me thinking about my dream. My wonderful dream where Neera and I were together and...

"Neera!" I shouted, sitting up for the third time that night, and again, instantly regretted it. This time, however, I stayed up. I got my feet underneath me and attempted to stand, but instead fell back to the ground.

"Sit down!" The matron commanded.

"No!" I growled through my clenched beak. "I have to see her. Dominik, he said..."

"I heard what he said." Philip stated, "And that's why we made sure that she was safe and secure as soon as we got back."

"Thank Glaux." I sighed in relief, then asked, "Where is she now?"

"Back in her room." Philip reassured me.

"Took about half the chaw to get her there, though." The matron spat.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The moment word got to her that you were alive, she rushed down here to see you herself." Philip explained.

"Yeah, started shouting commands the second she walked in, too. As if we didn't know how to do our job without her. Scared half the staff, she did. Then she refused to leave your side once you were all bandaged up. They almost had to drag her out."

That's my Neera!. "How long ago was that?" I asked, laying back down a little now that I felt assured that she was safe.

"Maybe two hours ago." Philip answered. "I can send one of my men to fetch her, if you like."

"If you would be so kind." I replied.

Philip nodded and walked towards the door. He stuck his head out and asked, I presumed, another member of the chaw to go check on Neera, then walked back into the room.

"Now, Mr. Baron," Philip asked, coming to a halt at the foot of my bed, "let's hear it. I need to know everything that has happened to you in the past week."

I proceeded to tell him about my capture, leaving out any mention of Neera's or my past. I told him about how I was supposed to forge battle claws, and how I escaped and ran, letting him know about the devil's triangle, and finally, the details leading up to my rescue.

As I finished describing the fight with Domonik, my thoughts drifted to my dream, and I realized how anxious I was to see Neera again. It dawned on me that it had been a good twenty minutes since I had started telling my tale, and Neera had not gotten here yet.

"Philip," I asked, "shouldn't your man have been back yet with Neera?"

The other owl looked grim and nodded. "Yes, I've been thinking the same thing for a couple minutes now." he said, a hint of concern touching his voice.

Phillip started for the door and I sat up to follow. My head swam, as I expected. I clenched my beak and sat there for a moment.

"Just stay here." Phillip cautioned.

"No." I retorted. "I have to see too." By that point, the pain in my head had been reduced to a dull throbbing. I stood slowly, my legs resisting every effort. I was reminded of when I first came to the tree, of the hours spent with Neera, learning how to stand and, eventually, how to fly.

The memory helped to strengthen my resolve, and I took one hesitant step towards the door. My knee buckled, and I almost fell, but I was able to regain my balance. I took another step forward, then another, until I was slowly making my way out the door, Philip in tow.

The tree seemed eerily quiet on this day. The usual scuttling of nest-maid snakes was replaced the creaks and groans that slanted from the tree with every gust of wind. The muffled voices of chicks who were supposed be asleep was absent, it's void filled with an almost constant roll of thunder.

With every passing moment, I grew more worried about Neera's fate, pushing me to walk faster and faster.

I knew the path to Neera's room like the back of my wing, so I had no trouble navigating to her small hollow which was situated closer to the top of the tree. I rounded the final corner, now half running, half limping as fast as I could.

I paused at the milkberry vines that provided a barrier between her room and the hallway. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, mentally preparing for whatever lay inside the hollow.

Philip alit next to me and nodded. I nodded back, and together, we pushed open the vines and stepped into the room.

The first thing we saw was a Barn Owl, gasping for breath, with a gash from his left shoulder to his right hip, laying in his own blood which was pooling around him. He looked at us as we came in. "I'm sorry sir," He coughed, a small stream of blood running out of the corner of his beak, "I tried to...save her...but...I..." He trailed off, his breathing becoming more labored.

Phillip walked over to his fallen comrade, then lowered himself close to the dying bird's head. "You have performed above and beyond what I could have ever asked of you, Malak. It was an honor serving with you."

The Barn Owl nodded, trying to whisper a few more words, but Phillip shook his head, saying, "Rest peacefully, my friend. I will see you again in Glaumora."

This brought a slight grin to the other owl, as he closed his eyes and laid his head on the ground. He breathed his last, and then was still.

Phillip remained over him for a moment, then stood and looked at me, a blank expression on his face. "Help me search the room."

I couldn't believe this guy. How could he just watch his friend die, then not care? I pushed my fury aside then moved further into the room, being careful to avoid the slowly growing puddle of blood. I tried not to look at the dead owl, as I knew the sight would be too much for me.

After a moment of searching the relatively small room, my worst fear had been confirmed. Neera was gone.

"My company will depart at once and seek them out." Philip stated.

"No." I retorted. Maybe it was the headache talking, but I wasn't going to let this guy who I didn't know and wasn't particularly sure I liked be responsible for the life of my future mate.

Philip paused, his shoulders tensed, then turned pronouncedly slow, as if fighting off anger. "Baron, this is what we do for a living. I can assure you that..."

"What? That you'll find him? Then what? More of your men will die? Or is that just 'what we do for a living' as well?"

The Black Barn Owl turned fully towards me, his face contorted with restrained fury, "Don't you think for one second that I do not care for the lives of my men. Were it not a clear violation of my duty, I would hunt down that son of a hagsfiend and rip his gizzard out of his chest for what he did to Malak. However, the daughter of the matriarchs is more important than my personal feelings. And you would do well to remember that." He turned and looked back out the window.

Anger flared in my chest, but it died down almost immediately and was quickly replaced by a deep aching sadness. I was angry at what had happened to Neera, but I also knew that taking it out on Philip wouldn't help.

I again felt a mass of emotions fighting to take control, so I took a deep breath, steeled myself against them, and instead focused on what needed to be done now.

"I'm coming with you." I stated.

"Request denied." Philip replied, still staring out the window with his back to me. "You could barely walk a few moments ago. What makes you think you could fly all the way to the Northern kingdoms?"

I opened my beak to argue, but then realized what he said, "The Northern Kingdoms?"

"Yes. That is more than likely where he's taking her. Straight to Lord Skrythen'r."

My eyes widened with surprise, "Skrythen'r? As in, the owl who kidnapped Barran?"

"The same." Phillip replied.

"But why does he want her?" I asked.

"Because she is now the only heir to the kingdom of Pales-reach. And because he needs her out before he attempts to take over the tree."

"What!?" I asked, incredulous.

"He needs his only kin out so that he can conquer the great tree and all it's people. As he did to the homes of Boron and Barran."

I shook my head. "This is crazy! How could you possibly know all this?"

He turned and looked at me, "Because, My men and I have been working to prevent it for years. However, now they have her, and now we must go get her back."

This new information was too much to process. The urgency with which he said these things brought to my mind the memory of the ghost owl. "You have been sent to protect one who cannot hide from their own fate and keep the world in balance" he had said. This had to have been what he was talking about.

While I was still unsure as to how I was supposed to restore balance to the world of Ga'Hoole, one thing had become abundantly clear. I looked Philip in the eye and said, "I'm coming with you."

"I already told you. That is unacceptable. You are to remain here and recover from your injuries."

"Listen. I have been beaten and I have been bruised. I have been cut, I have been torn, I have been knocked down. But they took the girl I love. That will be his last mistake they will ever make. Because no matter how many times they knock me down, I will get right back up again, and I will keep coming after them until she is safe."

The Black Barn Owl turned his head so that he could only see me with one eye. "And if you die trying?"

"Then I will meet them at the gates of Hagsmire, and there I will have my vengeance."

A grin touched the corner of Philip's beak. "Good. Because you might be doing just that."

* * *

**A/N: *slowly pokes head out from under desk and checks nearby rooftops for snipers* I am so, so, soooo sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet for so long. When I wrote the last chapter, I really was intending to put out the next chapter within a few months. And I suppose it's been a few months...if you call almost two years a few months...*hides under desk again***

**If it helps my case at all, one of the primary reasons for my lack of writing is the fact that I started volunteering at a Raptor Rehabilitation facility, which means I found my time filled with the care and training of actual owls, so suddenly the desire to write about them dwindled significantly. And then my freshman year of college walked in and smacked me upside the head.  
**

**However, these are no excuse, and I really am very sorry for taking so long. I sincerely hope that you guys can find it in y'alls hearts to forgive me...or at least...stop sending the assassins. I'm running out of room in my trunk for their bodies XD  
**

**Now, I cannot make any promises about the next chapter, but it is mostly written already, all that's left is to edit *shivers*. I have already dedicated this summer to writing...and data collection for a research project (which will maybe take ten hours out of each week), maybe a job (which will take a few more out of each week), eating, and maybe sleeping, and maybe classes. I'm not too terribly sure (but finals are still a whole week away, so who cares! Right?). The point I'm trying to get across is that it is highly probable that I will get out at least one more chapter this summer. Again, I make no promises, but I sincerely hope that I can get closer to finishing this story.**

**Anyway, thanks for staying loyal (I hope), and sorry for letting you guys down.**

**-Hodge Podge**


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